dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) (02/06/90)
Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what is being introduced? Invite read: Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant IBM product. February 15, 1990. Dwight Kelly Network Publications, Inc. Atlanta, GA
jason@cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) (02/06/90)
In article <749@npiatl.UUCP> dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: >Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >is being introduced? > >Invite read: > > Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant > IBM product. February 15, 1990. > > If you ask an IBM employee, they will say: "I don't know what you're talking about." If you ask someone who has one of the products, they will say: "I can't tell you anything unless you've signed a non-disclosure agreement with IBM." If you ask me, I'll say: "The Sparcstation I and the DECstation 3100 are very significant products." ---Jason ----- Jason Martin Levitt P.O. Box 49860 Austin, Texas 78765 (512) 459-0055 Internet : jason@cs.utexas.edu | I UUCP : ...cs.utexas.edu!hackbox!jason | put the BIX : jlevitt | chic in geek.
adam@ncifcrf.gov (Adam W. Feigin) (02/06/90)
In article <1107@gort.cs.utexas.edu> jason@cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) writes: >In article <749@npiatl.UUCP> dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: >>Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >>is being introduced? >> >>Invite read: >> >> Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant >> IBM product. February 15, 1990. >> >> > If you ask me, I'll say: > > "The Sparcstation I and the DECstation 3100 are very > significant products." Not that anyone asked me, but I just CANT resist: "Significant for IBM, but not for the rest of us....just another in a long series of products that IBM has introduced to try to gain a foothold in the workstation market, only to fail in doing so. When will they ever learn." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: adam@ncifcrf.gov Adam W. Feigin UUCP: {backbonz}!ncifcrf!adam Senior Systems Manager Mail: P.O. Box B, Bldg 430 National Cancer Institute-Supercomputer Center Frederick, MD 21701 Frederick Cancer Research Facility If someone from IBM comes up to you and says they support Unix, run very fast in the opposite direction; they are lying. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: adam@ncifcrf.gov Adam W. Feigin UUCP: {backbonz}!ncifcrf!adam Senior Systems Manager Mail: P.O. Box B, Bldg 430 National Cancer Institute-Supercomputer Center Frederick, MD 21701 Frederick Cancer Research Facility
john@newave.UUCP (John A. Weeks III) (02/06/90)
In article <749@npiatl.UUCP> dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: > Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what > is being introduced? > Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant > IBM product. February 15, 1990. I wouldn't be too surprised if this was the new PC-RT series that we have been hearing rumors about for the last 2 years. If you go, please post a summary. If you want a preview, there is an article in PC Week this week. -john- -- =============================================================================== John A. Weeks III (612) 942-6969 ...uunet!rosevax!bungia!wd0gol!newave!john =============================================================================== <*** *** Disclaimer: Its my machine, so I can say whatever I want. *** ***>
nghiem@ut-emx.UUCP (Alex Nghiem) (02/06/90)
#In article <1107@gort.cs.utexas.edu> jason@cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) writes: #>In article <749@npiatl.UUCP> dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: #>>Invite read: #>> #>> Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant #>> IBM product. February 15, 1990. #>> #> If you ask me, I'll say: #> #> "The Sparcstation I and the DECstation 3100 are very #> significant products." #> They work. Will it work?
kevin@msa3b.UUCP (Kevin P. Kleinfelter) (02/06/90)
dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: >Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >is being introduced? >Invite read: > Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant > IBM product. February 15, 1990. Based on what I read in the industry rags, it is probably the RIOS machine (i.e. the RT follow-on). I am HOPING that they will also announce that AIX PS/2 1.2 is available. Release 1.1 is up to 13 update diskettes, and applying the updates trashed my base OS (can you spell FRUSTRATION... sure you can...) -- Kevin Kleinfelter @ Management Science America, Inc (404) 239-2347 gatech!nanovx!msa3b!kevin
windley@cheetah.ucdavis.edu (Phil Windley/20000000) (02/07/90)
In article <24142@ut-emx.UUCP> nghiem@ut-emx.UUCP (Alex Nghiem) writes:
#> "The Sparcstation I and the DECstation 3100 are very
#> significant products."
#>
They work. Will it work?
Yeah? You must get machines from different branches of Sun and DEC than I
do.
--
Phil Windley | windley@cheetah.ucdavis.edu
Division of Computer Science | ucbvax!ucdavis!cheetah!windley
University of California, Davis |
Davis, CA 95616 | (916) 752-6452 (or 3168)etkind@bbn.com (Wendy Etkind) (02/07/90)
>>Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >>is being introduced? > >>Invite read: > >> Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant >> IBM product. February 15, 1990. According to the New York Times IBM just announced that NeXT software will run on the RT. Wendy Etkind (etkind@bbn.com or uunet!bbn.com!etkind@uunet.uu.net) Systems Software Engineer BBN Systems and Technologies Corp.
d87hs@efd.lth.se (Henrik Sundstrom) (02/07/90)
In article <1499@fcs280s.ncifcrf.gov> adam@ncifcrf.gov (Adam W. Feigin) writes: >Not that anyone asked me, but I just CANT resist: > >"Significant for IBM, but not for the rest of us....just another in a >long series of products that IBM has introduced to try to gain a >foothold in the workstation market, only to fail in doing so. When >will they ever learn." This in response to the upcoming IBM product announcement (February 15, 1990). As for workstations, the RT isn't the answer to anybodys prayers, and I hesitate to call any PS/2 a workstation. However, initiated rumor has it that among the soon-to-be-released IBM products there is indeed a new line of RISC-based workstations (possibly named System 6000) that should put an end to the insistant allegations that IBM is unwilling to release any technology which is not at least 10 years old. adam@ncifcrf.gov concludes: >If someone from IBM comes up to you and says they support Unix, run >very fast in the opposite direction; they are lying. It is true that UNIX (i.e AIX) is not IBM's most foremost field of interest, which is reflected by the fact that UNIX revenues represent only 1-2 percent of IBM's annual revenues for last year. Nevertheless, this rates IBM as the fifth largest UNIX company in the world in 1989 (UnixWorld, December 1989). I have little doubt that IBM will be the no. 1 UNIX company within five years. It is my sincere belief that, by that time, the UNIX support and development efforts of IBM have become more wholehearted. -- Henrik Sundstrom Email: d87hs@efd.lth.se Student of Computer Science, Lund Institute of Technology (Lund University) Snail: Bankgatan 14 A, 223 52 LUND, Sweden. Phone: +46 (0)46 18 83 48
friedl@mtndew.UUCP (Steve Friedl) (02/08/90)
dkelly@npiatl.UUCP (Dwight Kelly) writes: >Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >is being introduced? A friend of mine got to see an IBM internal presentation about their new workstation (the POWER series, some kind of stupid acryonym), and the Big Product Announcement is supposed to be in the next week or so. He and I really like to bash IBM, but my friend could not contain himself here -- he was totally impressed with the system. This is what I recall from the conversation. IBM did extensive studies of what kinds of instructions were needed by typical workstation, and they built a superscaler RISC to match it. Very high integer and floating point performance, four or five instructions can execute at one time. They use the MCA architecture, but they have some kind of mods that kick up the speed from 40mbyte/second up to over 200mbyte/second (and maybe even higher, I don't recall) depending on the model. As much as they hate following standards, they apparently did so by and large across the board. NFS, AFS, and TCP/IP come to mind. UNIX is supposed to be hybrid of Sys V and Berkeley, with a main focus on Posix compliance. 20000 pages of "great" documentation on CD ROM, online manuals, hundreds of hours of UNIX tutorials, etc. They already have in the ballpark of a hundred applications ported (including Frame, for instance) and have signed up many more to be delivered by the end of the year. They are setting up porting centers with these machines plus Suns and DECs and such, plus smart staff to help with the porting. Oh, they also admitted explicitly that they blew it totally on the RT and that if they do it again, nobody will take them seriously in this market. My friend says that they have not made the same mistake again. It looks like a really hot system. Steve -- Stephen J. Friedl, KA8CMY / Software Consultant / Tustin, CA / 3B2-kind-of-guy +1 714 544 6561 voice / friedl@vsi.com / {uunet,attmail}!mtndew!friedl "Winning the Balridge Quality Award is as easy as falling off a horse." - me
jim@applix.UUCP (Jim Morton) (02/09/90)
In article <51819@bbn.COM>, etkind@bbn.com (Wendy Etkind) writes: > According to the New York Times IBM just announced that NeXT software > will run on the RT. > > Wendy Etkind (etkind@bbn.com or uunet!bbn.com!etkind@uunet.uu.net) The story I read said the NeXTStep user interface would be optionally available at a later date. I'd be REALLY amazed if IBM made the NeXT machine's 68000 binaries run on the RISC/6000 !! -- Jim Morton, APPLiX Inc., Westboro, MA ...uunet!applix!jim jim@applix.com
rcd@ico.isc.com (Dick Dunn) (02/09/90)
friedl@mtndew.UUCP (Steve Friedl) writes: [...assorted stuff about new product deleted...] > ...20000 pages of "great" documentation > on CD ROM,... Beg pardon? This is self contradictory...if it's "great", there won't be 20000 pages of it; if it's 20000 pages, it won't be great. I hope this was a typo! -- Dick Dunn rcd@ico.isc.com uucp: {ncar,nbires}!ico!rcd (303)449-2870 ...Mr. Natural says, "Use the right tool for the job."
karl@stiatl.UUCP (Karl Klingman) (02/09/90)
jason@cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) writes: >>Just got an invitation to an IBM product announcement. Anyone know what >>is being introduced? >>Invite read: >> Unix users, you are invited to the launch of a very significant >> IBM product. February 15, 1990. >> No doubt the invitation is to hype the release of their RIOS computer. That's: Rarely Indicates anything Of Significance. :^) >> > If you ask an IBM employee, they will say: > "I don't know what you're talking about." If you ask an IBM employee anthing at all you, will get that response. Believe me, they aren't lying to you. -- - /| | Karl Klingman \`O.o' -->GAK! | UUCP: gatech!stiatl!karl ={___}= Cubicles: Just say NO! | Internet: stiatl!karl@gatech.edu ` U ' |
guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) (02/09/90)
>According to the New York Times IBM just announced that NeXT software >will run on the RT. Err, umm, umm, err, the NYTimes may be slightly confused, I dunno. IBM *did* license NeXTStEP from nEXt - a big hoopla was made about this a while ago - although I'm not sure what NExtSTep really means; does it include just the Objective-C stuff and libraries, or does it include the nExT's window server? I.e., will IBM offer the Display PostScript server that NeXT uses, or will they offer some other DPS server, or have they retargeted NeXTStep to run atop raw X11 or something like that? However, I don't know that this can be translated to "NeXT software will run on the RT"; NeXT's Mach may not necessarily be 100% compatible with AIX, and NeXT *binaries* won't run unless RIOS is nice and whizzy and fast and can simulate a 68030 at reasonable speed, or they have an object-to-object compiler from 68K to America.... Lacking inside information, I'd simply be inclined to wait for the announcement before trying to guess what the new hardware and software will do about NeXT applications.
steele@m2.csc.ti.com (Jeri Steele) (02/10/90)
One of the Fall UNIX Today's had all the info on the new product. Attending the disclosure was almost ho-hum after reading the article. I for one am a long time Systems Software programmer [I use shared memory, lots of forks, signals, etc.] of UNIX (6+ years) and I still got excited about this announcement from IBM. My previous employer was a IBM Marketing Partner and I signed agreements so I can't say more. A few words in defense of IBM: As an AT&T user when the IBM systems engineer wheeled in the RT I was sceptical. I figured IBM-UNIX was an oxymoron! But, when I had problems with the RT, my systems engineer was right there. IBM had him and the regional AIX expert to come with me to my customer's site 450 miles away. Its quite a sight to have your company come trooping in with all these IBM folk who take off their coats, roll up their sleeves, and stay with you till 2 am to solve the problems! Their current products aren't perfect. I hope the new one goes through more QA than the RT before release. I pray for the sake of those that have to talk to mainframes, the new netview & SNA interfaces are more stable! But I for one have had considerably better sales & service experiences with IBM than I have had with AT&T. The above are personal comments have nothing to do with my current employer.... Jeri Steele *--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**--**-- steele@ni.csc.ti.com "..one person's acronym is another person's anachronism"
jason@cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) (02/11/90)
In article <109944@ti-csl.csc.ti.com> steele@m2.csc.ti.com (Jeri Steele) writes: >One of the Fall UNIX Today's had all the info on the new product. >Attending the disclosure was almost ho-hum after reading the article. > ...[stuff deleted].... >A few words in defense of IBM: > >As an AT&T user when the IBM systems engineer wheeled in the RT >I was sceptical. I figured IBM-UNIX was an oxymoron! > >But, when I had problems with the RT, my systems engineer >was right there. IBM had him and the regional AIX expert to come with >me to my customer's site 450 miles away. > >...[stuff deleted]... But I for one have had considerably better >sales & service experiences with IBM than I have had with AT&T. > Comparing IBM to AT&T isn't much of a comparison. AT&T isn't one of the big players in the Unix workstation market other than their development and licensing of SYSVR4, which has little to do with selling and servicing Unix workstations. A lot of the major complaints about the RT are equally applicable to the AT&T 3B series. If you want to make an interesting comparison, look at the latest stuff from Sun, HP, DEC, and MIPS. ---Jason ----- Jason Martin Levitt P.O. Box 49860 Austin, Texas 78765 (512) 459-0055 Internet: jason@cs.utexas.edu | "Disneyland exemplifies the essence of UUCP : cs.utexas.edu!hackbox!jason | the American spirit and continues to BIX : jlevitt | show us the way to follow our dreams." | -Ronald Reagan [1990]
n245bq@tamunix (Keith Perkins) (02/16/90)
In article <2924@auspex.auspex.com> guy@auspex.auspex.com (Guy Harris) writes: >>According to the New York Times IBM just announced that NeXT software >>will run on the RT. > >Err, umm, umm, err, the NYTimes may be slightly confused, I dunno. IBM >*did* license NeXTStEP from nEXt - a big hoopla was made about this a >while ago - although I'm not sure what NExtSTep really means; does it >include just the Objective-C stuff and libraries, or does it include the >nExT's window server? I.e., will IBM offer the Display PostScript >server that NeXT uses, or will they offer some other DPS server, or have >they retargeted NeXTStep to run atop raw X11 or something like that? > >However, I don't know that this can be translated to "NeXT software will >run on the RT"; NeXT's Mach may not necessarily be 100% compatible with >AIX, and NeXT *binaries* won't run unless RIOS is nice and whizzy and >fast and can simulate a 68030 at reasonable speed, or they have an >object-to-object compiler from 68K to America.... From what I understand from listening to the comp.sys.next newsgroup, NeXTstep is source compatible onto the IBM AIX. I don't know how they did it, but Ali Ozer from NeXT mentioned on the net that all the demos that are availible on the NeXT cube can be compiled directly on the NeXTstep for the IBM AIX. On another note, MIT should be releasing soon the X-Windows port for the NeXTstep. Beta testing versions were sent out to selected individuals sometime in January. The word is that X-11 exists inside a window on the NeXTstep interface. Keith Perkins n245bq@tamunix.tamu.edu Texas A&M University