SunWrite & SunDraw

[Glenn Roberts]

> What do the rest of you SunSpot readers think [of SunWrite/SunDraw]?
> Do you think that the packages are "the wave of the future" and
> a sure sign that Sun is continuing their dominance in the workstation
> marketplace? ... Or is it a sign that Sun is muddying the waters
> and isn't really sure who their target market is anymore?

A couple thoughts here ... 1) I think there is a role for a good, low cost
graphics/text package from Sun.  Although we have a good number of Suns in
my group now and they're starting to be heavily used, every time someone
needs to do a briefing they run to find a Macintosh with MacDraw and Power
Point.  (Until recently you could buy an entire Mac for the cost of one
text/graphics software package for the Sun.)  2) these products should
have been bundled as one - most people are going to buy all three anyway
and competitors like Frame and Publisher essentially have all three.  3)
Sun needs to cut the price or use floating licensing - Mike Louden tells
me that he has 7 floating licenses for Publisher serving 23 people in his
department.  Sun's stuff is single-cpu licensed (and it checks the ROM too
in order to enforce this!  First time I've seen a Sun product do this.)

- Glenn Roberts, The MITRE Corp., McLean VA (703) 883-6820
  gfr at cobra.mitre.org