SCO stopping enhancements for Xenix?

[Wain Dobson]

In article <67 at rsoft.bc.ca> frank at rsoft.UUCP (Frank I. Reiter) writes:
>
>If SCO doesn't soon recognize and respond to it's responsibility to support
>those people that have been supporting them for years then RSI and its future
>customers will be computing on another vendor's Unix.

Hmmm. Having supported SCO for years, as well, I can only say that I
pleased that we don't have to contended with two products. All our clients
are willing to update. What's it to them, anyway? They upgrade their dBase,
their Lotuses, their Frameworks, their Words, their accounting software and
god only knows what else --- Hell they upgrade their TV's, their steroes,
their CD's, their cars, their clothes in accordance with fashion, their
golf clubs, their skiis, their boats and yachts. I upgrade by ski boots
and skiis every year at a cost (Canadian) substabtially more than it
costs to upgrade from Xenix to UNIX. Besides, I'm not too upset that
Volvo does not support its 1974 Model any longer. I should be, its only
got about 625,000 klicks on it.

>From what I have read on this net over the last few years, I am amazed
that now Xenix is going, people are in a snit. All of us who have used
and abused Xenix (more the latter than the former) have probably said,
wistfully, to our clients, "wait until UNIX appears and then."  Xenix
has played its role, just as cpm and dos have. 

Basically, I have had enough of experiencing the bastardization of a
System III product that began on the 8086, moved to the 286, and then
moved to a 386. We have three SCO systems, in-house, the 286 version,
the 386 version with tcp-ip, streams, etc., and the ODT. The sooner
I can replace all of them, except the latter, the happier I will be.
I've got controlled versions, patches, updates, ad nausia. If I had
to contend with both Xenix and UNIX, I would be more of a basket case
than I already am. From a business point of view, I think it would
be folly on the part of SCO to even pretend that they could support
the two products, well. Why waste the bucks maintaining and pumping 
up a old horse for a short wind sprint? Put it out to pasture, or 
shoot it, but get it over with. No?  It will only be a vague memory
as the gripes and groans about the new product become more widespread
and vocal.

Basically, I think it is a very smart move. Kind of like the 1989
break up of the Communist Bloc. As the Old Regime crumbles, the
process of bringing in the new accelerates, rapidly. But, then
history lessons are not important, here.  Even with the short 
comings of SCO UNIX, its is a big jump that the market place will 
gobble up. With the reputation that SCO has established with respect
to the ongoing development and maintenance of their products, I
find it exceedingly difficult to believe that the "small business
world" will be swung over to either ESIX, Interactive, or Intel.
I've inherited clients who are burdened with the uport mess and the
early offerings of Bell Tech. If I even suggested that they deal
with someone other than SCO I would get my walking papers, quickly.
The UNIX game is just warming up, and SCO who is in the drivers
seat at the moment, is dumping a potential albatros that could hang
them at a later date. 

I've dealt with SCO for what I consider to be a century, and have had
little to complain about except, the current sales rep for our
area, whom obviously considers us to be too small to deal with. But,
the reps short comings are more than adequately made for with the
treatment I get from the rest of the people in sales. So much so,
I prefer to deal with them and am not put out by not being able to
deal with the rep. Granted, SCO cost large bucks, but then my clients
pay me equally large bucks to make sure that they stay stable and on
a solid upgrade path. If I told them I felt that SCO was overcharing
they would probably look at me as if I had lost it more than I already
have. They would also look at me strangely, if I tried to explain
to them that it would be better to move to another UNIX because
I was upset that SCO dropped Xenix. These are not small systems,
I talking about. Even, if these people did consider what I would
I would me saying, the first thing that they would ask is whether they
would have to retrain their people on a word processor other than Word
and on a spreadsheet other than SCO Professional. Any answer to that
question would bury me in two seconds, flat. Given that they all know
that I would like to bury Word, deeper than SCO seems to be burying
Xenix, I would lose some clients, very quickly.
-- 
Wain Dobson, Vancouver, B.C.
	...!{uunet,ubc-cs}!van-bc!seac!wain