UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) (02/19/91)
In article <70662@microsoft.UUCP>, edwardj@microsoft.UUCP (Edward JUNG) says: > ... many useful and well-stated points deleted... >2. The derivative Unix for '386, called Xenix, is the best > selling Unix in the world. (Note I did not say "is the > best Unix in the world"!) And bless you for that. however, in the interest of precision, I want to know what you mean by "best selling." I wouldn't be surprised if there are more copies of MS Xenix in use today, since so many Tandy/Radio Shack machines were sold. Is it true that at one time there were more Tandy/RS machines running a variant of Unix than any other manufacturer? On the other hand, I would be surprised if MS Xenix sold more copies *recently*. What about SYSV, which is now delivered on many platforms? Also, I would be surprised if there were *more users* of Xenix than of other Unices. There may be fewer BSDs and Ultixes, but they are usually serving dozens of users, or more. Also, I am not sure if it is fair to call a Dental Receptionist who turns on the patient package every morning a *Unix* user. lee
sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) (02/19/91)
In article <91049.125858UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) writes: >Also, I would be surprised if there were *more users* of Xenix than of >other Unices. There may be fewer BSDs and Ultixes, but they are usually >serving dozens of users, or more. Also, I am not sure if it is fair to >call a Dental Receptionist who turns on the patient package every morning >a *Unix* user. If I remember the figures correctly, most BSD-based systems are for workstations; the xenix systems are for "turnkey" type of things, where the person buying it has realized (s)he can put all twelve or so employees on a $1k box (a '286). Since all they are doing is running canned software, that never sees a shell prompt, they don't *care* what's running under it, as long as it meets their requirements, is cost effective, and works. Believe it or not, xenix (usually from sco, I must admit, even as biased as I am about it) meets those criteria for many, many people. -- Sean Eric Fagan | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it; sef@kithrup.COM | I had a bellyache at the time." -----------------+ -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_) Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others.
bennett@mp.cs.niu.edu (Scott Bennett) (02/21/91)
In article <1991Feb18.203338.13446@kithrup.COM> sef@kithrup.COM (Sean Eric Fagan) writes: >In article <91049.125858UH2@psuvm.psu.edu> UH2@psuvm.psu.edu (Lee Sailer) writes: >>Also, I would be surprised if there were *more users* of Xenix than of >> [text deleted --SJB] > >If I remember the figures correctly, most BSD-based systems are for >workstations; the xenix systems are for "turnkey" type of things, where the Until last summer we were running straight 4.3BSD on a VAX and now we're running UMAX 4.3 on a 10-processor Encore. Nobody here wants anything to do with a non-BSD UNIX. Our other UNIX systems are HP/UX and SunOS, which are BSD-ish enough (so far) to pass. One of the main reasons I've wanted a NeXT (and finally bought one when the opportunity arose:-) is that it runs MACH and MACH looks to the user-mode software like a superset of 4.3BSD. >person buying it has realized (s)he can put all twelve or so employees on a >$1k box (a '286). Since all they are doing is running canned software, that ?!TWELVE!? 8~| I have trouble seriously imagining an office of twelve users (simultaneously anyway) on a uport SysV/AT '286, much less on a Xenix '286. Your point is probably true, though, even if the numbers are a tad high. ;-) >never sees a shell prompt, they don't *care* what's running under it, as >long as it meets their requirements, is cost effective, and works. Believe >it or not, xenix (usually from sco, I must admit, even as biased as I am >about it) meets those criteria for many, many people. > >-- >Sean Eric Fagan | "I made the universe, but please don't blame me for it; >sef@kithrup.COM | I had a bellyache at the time." >-----------------+ -- The Turtle (Stephen King, _It_) >Any opinions expressed are my own, and generally unpopular with others. Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG Systems Programming Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Illinois 60115 ********************************************************************** * Internet: bennett@cs.niu.edu * * BITNET: A01SJB1@NIU * *--------------------------------------------------------------------* * "WAR is the HEALTH of the STATE" --Albert Jay Nock (I think:-) * **********************************************************************