HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA (04/22/84)
From: Herm Fischer <HFISCHER@USC-ECLB.ARPA>
I am in posession of some documentation which first strikes me as
preposterous, yet makes some claims which need to be taken seriously, so
this is a request for feedback from net-readers who either have direct
knowledge of the product, or perhaps know of some of the folks developing
it.
The advertisement which attracted my attention stated that:
"Unix is a Dinosaur,
CP/M & MS-DOS are Toys"
... and that Multi-Solutions, Inc's "S1" is "the World's first 4th
generation operating system". Features like portable, modular, multiuser,
multitasking, multiPROCESSING(?), parallel processing(?), networking,
windowing, and UNIX Source Compatible!
My interest became less casual because they advertize Ada and Lisp
compilers "WITH EXTENSIONS" available in August, for the Z80. For more
information I guess I was supposed to send money, so I am concerned.
As you can see from the price list, they say I can have the same OS with C,
Modula-2, and Ada, running on the 68000, Z80, 8085, and 8086/88. Since my
company builds embedded military products based on the Z80, with the edict
that microprocessor software must be in Ada ["DoD Report to Congress",
Study Annex], and with all my friends laughing at the viability or
marketability of an Ada for a Z80...
In the following list, everything is "available now" (according to the
brochure which solicits my order), except for the Ada and LISP, which are
available in August (according to the first page) and September (according
to the last page).
Price List
68000 Z80 8085 8086/88
S1 OS with all utilities
OEM $850 $300 $200 $400
Pre-configured 950 375 250 495
"C" (K&R) 350 195 175 275
Modula-2 350 195 175 275
Ada + "extensions" 700 475 425 575
LISP 350 195 175 275
User Manual $45 \
Progr. manual 100 } system and language orders
Mod-2 manual 45 } are shipped with manuals
Ada manual 75 /
Does anybody have the manuals????
Reading the expensive linnen-textured fancy "document" they sent me would
lead me to think they have an operating system kernel, but I cannot see how
it would be supportive of Ada "tasks" with the primitives they supply.
Then, if Unix is a Dinosaur, since Unix has tons of "utilities" like UUCP,
UUX, Mail, snazzy editors, N/TROFF, SCCS, Lex, YACC, Graphics workbench,
PIC, etc etc., is theirs mean and lean without the equivalent utilities?
Or, since they are "Unix Source Compatible", will all unix utilities be
portable to it? Will UUCP or my YACC Ada grammar run on it (on the Z80 or
8088)?
If you want to sleuth,
Multi Solutions, Inc.
Suite 207
123 Franklin Corner Rd.
Lawrenceville, N.J. 08648
609/896-4100
I'd really like a net-reader who lives nearby to drop in and report back!
Herm Fischer (HFischer@eclb, ..{trwrb,cepu}!litvax!fischer)POURNE%MIT-MC@sri-unix.UUCP (05/03/84)
From: Jerry E. Pournelle <POURNE @ MIT-MC> This outfit was in a SMALL booth, with NO machinery, but lots of slick paper, at Winter Comdex. Why they were in a small booth off one wall might be interesting. They claim the earth, and they have a Princeton genius who wrote all this. They will have something to show Real Soon Now. They were going to send something to me, but they have not. Robert Knight of Princeton is supposed to have written this. Their chairman was a chap named Lombardo who seems more interested in selling stock than shipping product; indeed, I have not see any product other than pretty brochures an stock prospectuses. I would LOVE it if this S1 system really works, and iof they really have all the compilers they claim, but I note that the articles in Computerworld and Systems and Software have "according to Knight" and "according to Lombardo" disclaimers; no reviewer seems to have SEEN this work, only to have heard that it either does work or will Real Soon Now. Apparenlty Knight has good record in compiler work, but has UNCOL and JOVIAL caught on? According to Lombardo you can port all these languagez to any machine in three months and then recompile and you have it; it all sounds wonderful; but I kept wondering, where ws a machine that it ran on? Why didn't they bring even one? It all sounds great, and according to computer systems news they raised 2.2 million bucks when they went public. But they sure didn't look like a well financed outfit. But they sure claim great capabilities.