phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (04/12/90)
However, I talked to SAS today, and the release date is not scheduled to be within this year, but about mid 1991. By that time, we will also know if NeXT has been a market success, and if SAS will really sell it... /ivo welch ivo@next.agsm.ucla.edu
rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) (04/13/90)
This kind of policy by SAS is really a bu....it! If they want to wait until the cube is a success before they sell their software, they they rather should sell no software at all. How should the cube ever become a success if developers have this attitude? Do they really think that there will be any users other than a few crazy ppl like us, shelfing out a couple of thousand $$ just to make the cube a success and to wait until finally get some software? It really has to work the other way round... Ronald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet
JOE@oregon.uoregon.edu (04/13/90)
In article <36205@brunix.UUCP>, rca@cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) writes: > This kind of policy by SAS is really a bu....it! If they want to wait > until the cube is a success before they sell their software, they they > rather should sell no software at all. How should the cube ever become > a success if developers have this attitude? Do they really think that > there will be any users other than a few crazy ppl like us, shelfing > out a couple of thousand $$ just to make the cube a success and to > wait until finally get some software? It really has to work the other > way round... > > Ronald I'm not sure this is really fair -- SAS has clearly already put a LOT of time into this product. Remember, porting the SAS System to a new platform isn't exactly like porting 200 lines of vanilla C... The version I saw included ALL of the SAS add-on products (such as SAS ETS, SAS/Graph, etc)... All told, this is some 200 MEG of code. While some of the SAS people have stated that they've reduced the system dependent kernal to less than 1% of the total code, this still represents a couple of MEG of very tricky code used to do dynamic linking, exploit operating system features, and do other non-standard things. Frankly, I think you *should* say, "Thanks, SAS Institute, for demonstrating a product many of us would dearly like to have, even if it isn't a full production release. We're glad to know you're at least working on it, and it is nice to be able to SEE FOR OURSELVES how it is coming!" I'm as critical as anyone else of the NeXT's limited software base right now, but give SAS Institute a break! They do EXTENSIVE quality control on their products before they release them, and I, for one, am willing to wait for a solid product that I can RELY on to provide numbers which are RIGHT. The vendors you should jump on, in my opinion, are the ones who've either refused to port their products (or, even worse, the ones who've SAID they'll port their products but have accomplished absolutely nothing in that direction in so far as anyone can tell). Just my two cents, Joe St Sauver Disclaimer: I don't work for SAS Institute; all opinions are strictly my own.
rca@tahoe.cs.brown.edu (Ronald C.F. Antony) (04/14/90)
In article <19029@oregon.uoregon.edu>, JOE@oregon.uoregon.edu writes: |>I'm not sure this is really fair -- SAS has clearly already put a LOT of time |>into this product. Remember, porting the SAS System to a new platform isn't |>exactly like porting 200 lines of vanilla C... I refered in my b.....it statement to the comment someone made that they will put it only on the market if the NeXT has proven to be successful first. At least that is what I got out of some of the postings. Otherwise I really welcome that they port this product and I certainly am interested in it. Ronald ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernhard Shaw | rca@cs.brown.edu or antony@browncog.bitnet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
phd_ivo@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (04/15/90)
+I refered in my b.....it statement to the comment someone made that they will +put it only on the market if the NeXT has proven to be successful first. And I was quoting only the proposed release date, and pointing out that in 1 1/2 years the success or failure of NeXT will probably have been determined already... /ivo welch ivo@next.agsm.ucla.edu