Small UNIX system pricing vs. MS-DOS

[Peter da Silva]

> > it even close to a typical PC Unix.  I'm using very rough rule-of-thumb
> > prices based on retail prices for comparable products:
> 
> Fine, and I'll add to the right the prices and utilities I have actually
> added to my MS-DOS version 2 system to provide the required FUNCTIONALITY.

And I'll critique them...

> > C compiler		$ 300 |	$ 259	Microsoft C 3.0
> > lint		  500 |	    0	Option included in Microsoft C
> > as			  100 |	  109	MASM 3.0
> > vi, ex, ed		  600 |	   75	"ed" portion of PC-WRITE (with sources)

You telling me PC-WRITE comes anywhere near 'vi/ex/ed' as a text editor? It
is to laugh. I'm still looking for an acceptable editor for the PC.

> > plot, graph, spline	  200 |	    -	I don't need them
> > make		  100 |	    0	included with MASM
> > adb			  300 |	    0	SYMDEB, included with MASM
> > nroff, tbl, neqn	  500 |	    0	"pr" portion of PC-WRITE (price above)

See above.

> > spell		  100 |	    -	Waiting for my free PC-WRITE update
> > TOTAL		$2600 |	$ 443	MY TOTAL

How about dump/restor (for hard disks), the PC restore program is a botch.
uucp			 $350
sh			unavailable (and badly missed)

> > All of the utilities I've listed (and lots more) come with VENIX/86, which
> > sells for $800.  I think it's a bargain.  (Note that I didn't even list all

Sells for $1045.

> > the stuff you just can't get for MS-DOS:  awk, bc, dc, sh, csh, uucp, m4,
> > tar, time, lex, yacc...)
> 
> Had I wanted to save more money I could have substituted CHASM (public
> domain) for MASM, legally got a copy of PC-WRITE from a friend (free), and
> bought DeSmet C instead of Microsoft, for a total of $155.  MS-DOS itself,
> naturally, came free with my Zenith XT-clone.  Note that I didn't even list
> my $45 optimizing FORTRAN compiler (Microsoft, version 3.2) or all the public
> domain utilities I use with MS-DOS: touch, dosedit, kermit, whereis, blank2,
> older, lu, sq, usq, etc., all FREE and most with sources.

touch, find, cu/uucp, ar, compress, all "free".

> Looks to me like AT&T has largely priced UNIX out of the wider PC market,
> when you consider real needs and real prices, rather than looking at the
> products of years of creeping utilityism and "list" prices.

This is, unfortunately, true. Not for the reasons above but because people
don't see the need for decent multitasking (doubledos and friends won't cut
it), and a well integrated set of software. The guilt isn't AT&T's, though.
Even if they cut the license fee to 0 it wouldn't help, as I have been
informed when I made the same complaint. I don't know the answer, but I can
tell you we've spent WELL over $1045 on software that we wouldn't have had to
get if our PCs had UNIX.
> 
> > Larry Campbell, UNIX and VENIX fan.
> 
> Dave Tweten, UNIX and MS-DOS *user*.

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	Peter da Silva (the mad Australian werewolf)
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