ron@mlfarm.uucp (Ronald Florence) (06/12/90)
This is a sad tale of broken promises and false assurances.
In August of last year, I ordered an upgrade to Xenix 2.3.2, which I
was assured by the salesperson at SCO "would fully support the VGA
display." When I installed the upgrade, I discovered that the VGA
modes do not work with a monochrome display on a ps2 or other IBM
VGA. I reported this to SCO, and after some investigation, they
assured me that it would be fixed. The following note from Louis
Imersheim, the head of their Microchannel Support, was typical of
many. This was written on November 4, 1989:
The modifications are being made to the SCO UNIX System
V/386 Release 3.2 kernal and will be backported by
engineering as soon as the code is completed. I was told
they ran into some glitches. Its not slipping under the
rug, its being worked on. The last time I wrote you, about
a month ago, engineering had just begun the work. I can't
guess at how long it will take but I'm hoping they'll have
this fixed and ported to XENIX within the next 7 weeks.
In April, I received a phone call from "Daniel G," the Escalation
Coordinator at SCO, informing me that the monochrome VGA fix was
done and on its way. I waited two more months, asked again, and got
the following response:
Yes the problem was identified, and one of our engineers
spent the time to fix it, but a decision was made not to
roll it into the product or distribute it as a fix because
we are not going to continue the product. It was a decision
made by product marketing, and they are the only ones who
make those determinations, and there is nothing I can do to
change their minds.
In other words, although they have the needed fix, SCO will not
release it -- even to bring Xenix up to the level of functionality
they promised when they sold the upgrade to version 2.3.2. Those of
us with monochrome displays are left in the lurch. On the strength
of SCO's repeated assurances that they would eventually support
monochrome displays fully, I went out and spent a small fortune on a
large IBM 8507 display which is semi-functional on my system.
Ironically, I have been a major booster of SCO's CGI, writing and
releasing to the newsgroups ports of Gnuplot 1.0 and 2.0, Starchart
3.0, and a Tektronics emulator. Yet I cannot display a proper grey
scale from any of those CGI programs on my monochrome VGA.
I have been a loyal SCO customer for many years. If broken promises
are the reward for that loyalty, I will think long and hard about
where to look for the next version of Unix. This is no way to treat
a friend!
--
Ronald Florence {yale,uunet}!hsi!mlfarm!ronfred@cdin-1.UUCP (Fred Rump) (06/13/90)
In article <RON.90Jun11184055@mlfarm.uucp> ron@mlfarm.uucp (Ronald Florence) writes: >This is a sad tale of broken promises and false assurances. > >In August of last year, I ordered an upgrade to Xenix 2.3.2, which I >was assured by the salesperson at SCO "would fully support the VGA [discussion of promises made deleted] >In other words, although they have the needed fix, SCO will not >release it -- even to bring Xenix up to the level of functionality >they promised when they sold the upgrade to version 2.3.2. Those of >us with monochrome displays are left in the lurch. >I have been a loyal SCO customer for many years. If broken promises >are the reward for that loyalty, I will think long and hard about >where to look for the next version of Unix. This is no way to treat >a friend! This is not nice! I would have thought more of SCO 'marketing' folks had I not read the above note. We, too, have several mono VGA's waiting here for functionality. I just assumed it was just a matter of time, not policy, before the fix was made available. I can certainly understand that somewhere along the way the line is drawn as far as enhancements go with Xenix, but this is a product deficiency that needs to be resolved before the curtain can be drawn. I hope marketing at SCO will not fall victim to buraucratic bungling just to make a point and release this fix to those who request it. fred -- Fred Rump | UUCP: {uunet dsinc}!cdin-1!fred CompuData, Inc. | "Beware of cats for they are subtle and will .... on 10501 Drummond Rd. | your computer." Philadelphia, Pa. 19154| Internet: fred@COMPU.COM (215-824-3000)
kabra437@pallas.athenanet.com (Ken Abrams) (06/14/90)
In article <RON.90Jun11184055@mlfarm.uucp> ron@mlfarm.uucp (Ronald Florence) writes: >This is a sad tale of broken promises and false assurances. > [sad tale deleted] > >I have been a loyal SCO customer for many years. If broken promises >are the reward for that loyalty, I will think long and hard about >where to look for the next version of Unix. This is no way to treat >a friend! >-- Incase you missed it, about a month ago, SCO left a post on here briefly describing their intentions for XENIX support (ie None after about 1/1/91). They said "Tell us what you think; we are listening". I told them both in a post and mail. Several others did too. I have missed a few days of news along the way but so far, I see no evidence of any response from them either public or private. Based on your story, it appears that they have dropped support much sooner than anticipated. Since you have written commitments, I would be tempted to drop them a short note telling them that the next letter they get will be from a lawyer. I didn't think too long at all about where to get my next UNIX system. I don't know where it will be but I am positive that it WON'T be SCO. I will not do business with a company that leaves it's customers with "orphans". Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. This is what happens when a company built by technology is taken over by marketing types with a firm eye (only) on the bottom line. They will undoubtedly milk the customer base 'til it is dry (alienate a good portion of them) and then move on to another virgin company. -- ======================================================== Ken Abrams uunet!pallas!kabra437 Illinois Bell kabra437@athenanet.com Springfield (voice) 217-753-7965