From: evan@telly.on.ca (Evan Leibovitch)
Subject: Re: Introductory info on Univel
Organization: Somewhere just far enough out of Toronto
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 05:08:25 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.121312.13486@fasttech.com>
	zeke@fasttech.com (Bohdan Tashchuk) writes:

>In <2B0B2569.6172@telly.on.ca> evan@telly.on.ca (that's me) writes:

>>Since I haven't seen any information here on the subject, I figured
>>there might be some interest in UnixWare, the initial 80X86 UNIX
>>product of the joint venture between USL and Novell.
>>There is a *pile* for information available for anyone with a fax
>>machine and a few spare rolls of fax paper. [...]

>Perhaps I'm reading Evan's post wrong. Maybe there is also a way to access
>these documents via FTP or via anonymous UUCP.

I wrote about what I know. I have been trying to find out if this is
available. As of now, I'm not sure. Probably not likely right now.

But that's besides the point, really. Maybe they *do* have fax available
first, then will offer it by ftp or anon UUCP. None of the companies
selling UNIX for the 386 market had ftp or UUCP capabilities before they
shipped their first products. Some of them still don't have these
capabilities *now*.

>Doesn't anyone else see the absurdity of offering this *only* via fax?

Whether or not you technoweenies out there like to admit it or not, the
number of people out there capable of receiving faxes is orders of
magnitude higher than the number of people connected of running ftp
across the Internet, or those who can add a line in their "Systems" file to
allow for an anonymous UUCP dial-out.

If one has to pick a single method that allows the greatest number
of people to receive the information, there is no contest. Maybe
you've got money to burn, but it seems prudent that Univel would
keep expenses down until they start selling some product. That means
starting simple, and maybe getting fancy later.

Also consider that the bulk of people who are making the purchase decisions
on which UNIX to buy (or whether or not to buy UNIX) don't (and shouldn't)
care how UUCP or Internet tools works. That's a task to delegate to the
local technoweenie, whether employee or contractor. For the manager,
dialing an 800 number to get a fax is faster and cheaper.

>Especially by a company that bundles UUCP with every copy of their OS?

Once they've bought the product, *then* they'll be able to get the
information by UUCP or ftp. But by then, why would they need
the sales info?

>If it's true that you can only get this via fax, then $Bill Gates doesn't
>have a thing to worry about. And the rest of us had better start learning
>about NT.

Please do so, then, and quickly. This attitude hurts all of us trying to bring
UNIX into the mainstream.

If you take issue with the *content* of the information, please do so.
Carping about the distribution method, especially when it is available
immediately and doesn't cost a cent to obtain from within the U.S.,
is what I find really absurd.

-- 
 Evan Leibovitch, Sound Software Ltd., located in beautiful Brampton, Ontario
         evan@telly.on.ca / uunet!utzoo!telly!evan / (416) 452-0504
         "IBM's three letters are probably EBCDIC for CYA" - Nik H.
Xref: sparky comp.unix.sysv386:16627 comp.unix.sys5.r4:554