🚀 go-pugleaf

mats@rigel.efd.lth.se (mats akerberg) writes:


>Hi!

>I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
>OSF for MIPS.....
>That means no shared librarys among other things.

>Why oh why DEC, how can you treat us, the faitful users like
>this?

Unless I'm mistaken. That rumor is about 6 months old and was refuted by
DEC some time ago. Last I heard, DEC is going full steam ahead with OSF/1
for MIPS.

Scott


>____
>  Mats Akerberg, System Manager (mats@rigel.efd.lth.se)
>  Lund Institute of Technology ,School of Electrical Engineering and  
>  Computer Sciences. Snail: Box 118  S-221 00 Lund Sweden
>  Phone: + 46 46-109847 FAX: + 46 46-104013 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Scott Farrow-Student SysAdmin/Programmer, University of Colorado at Boulder
Computing & Network Services, Boulder, Colorado, USA, phone: (303) 492-4428
Internet: farrow@spot.colorado.edu, farrow@cs.colorado.edu

--
farrow@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (J. Scott Farrow) writes:

>mats@rigel.efd.lth.se (mats akerberg) writes:
>
>
>>Hi!
>
>>I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
>>OSF for MIPS.....
>>That means no shared librarys among other things.
>
>>Why oh why DEC, how can you treat us, the faitful users like
>>this?
>
>Unless I'm mistaken. That rumor is about 6 months old and was refuted by
>DEC some time ago. Last I heard, DEC is going full steam ahead with OSF/1
>for MIPS.
>
>Scott

This is the plan. The MIPS version release will follow the Alpha release by 
some number of months. I cannot give further details. You may be able to get
further information in a PID presentation. The Alpha release will be in the 
March/April 93 timeframe.

You could always check with you nearest sales professional for the (hopefully)
irresistable Alpha AXP upgrade prices for your DECstation/system :-)

Regards
--------
Richard Sharpe,  sharpe@nmesis.enet.dec.com,  Ph: 61-8-235-7237,  FAX: ...-7299
Digital Equipment Corporation, 139 Frome St, Adelaide 5001, South Australia, OZ
* I have children to keep me poor in a monetary sense, but rich in so many    *
* other ways!                                                                 *
All opinions are those of the author, not of Digital Equipment!

In article <1993Jan26.210715.14724@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> farrow@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (J. Scott Farrow) writes:
>>I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
>>OSF for MIPS.....
>>That means no shared librarys among other things.

>   Unless I'm mistaken. That rumor is about 6 months old and was refuted by
>   DEC some time ago. Last I heard, DEC is going full steam ahead with OSF/1
>   for MIPS.

That was what I thought as well, but apparently the new management 
at DEC is reconsider that decision....

My source are very reliably. (Someone inside DEC.....)



-- 
  Mats Akerberg, System Manager (mats@efd.lth.se),(MATS@SELDC52) on Earn/Bitnet
  Lund Institute of Technology ,School of Electrical Engineering and  
  Computer Sciences. Snail: Box 118  S-221 00 Lund Sweden
  Phone: + 46 46-109847 FAX: + 46 46-104013 

In article <1993Jan26.151700.9709@lth.se> mats@rigel.efd.lth.se writes:
>I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
>OSF for MIPS.....
>That means no shared librarys among other things.

This rumor is more than a half year out of date.  ;-)
-- 
Jurgen Botz, jbotz@mtholyoke.edu
Northampton, MA, USA

In article <MATS.93Jan27082851@styx.efd.lth.se> mats@efd.lth.se (Mats Akerberg) writes:
>In article <1993Jan26.210715.14724@ucsu.Colorado.EDU> farrow@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (J. Scott Farrow) writes:
>>   Unless I'm mistaken. That rumor is about 6 months old and was refuted by
>>   DEC some time ago. Last I heard, DEC is going full steam ahead with OSF/1
>>   for MIPS.
>
>That was what I thought as well, but apparently the new management 
>at DEC is reconsider that decision....

I doubt it... but if you're right I predict the inevitable demise of
DEC within two years.  When DEC announced last spring that they wouldn't
be porting OSF/1 to existing MIPS machines the users screamed bloody 
murder and DEC management said "oops" and quickly announced that they
had changed their mind.  To change their mind /again/ and completely
ignore the wishes of their users would prove to most of us that DEC
simply can't be relied upon and we won't want to buy their computers
anymore.

Seriously... the Alpha may be a spiffy processor, but raw speed alone is
not on the top of most of our lists of considerations when we decided on
systems that our organizations will be relying upon for their day-to-day
operations, and that's where DEC's bread and butter is and will be in
the future.  If I can't rely on DEC to support the investment I've made
in them, I'm going to turn to Sun and/or HP which have a better track-
record -- and guess what -- are profitable as companies because of it.

For DEC 1993 is the Year of the Last Chance.  If they blow it they'll
be gone before Alphas outnumber Vaxen.
-- 
Jurgen Botz, jbotz@mtholyoke.edu
Northampton, MA, USA

In article <1k77i3INN25j@slab.mtholyoke.edu>, jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz) writes:
> In article <1993Jan26.151700.9709@lth.se> mats@rigel.efd.lth.se writes:
> >I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
> >OSF for MIPS.....
> >That means no shared librarys among other things.
> 
> This rumor is more than a half year out of date.  ;-)
> -- 

  I would say "more than half a year OLD", rather than "out of date".  Some
  things, like wine, age well; some go away and come back.  The only statement
  on the subject that I would bet on goes something like this:  "if one of 
  your jobs is to make long-term purchasing decisions for your company and
  your job depends on making correct ones, you would be very foolish to bet
  on DEC's commitment to MIPS processors".  Isn't that obvious by now ?  So
  why bother wasting the time on it ?


  greg pavlov
  pavlov@fstrf.org
  

In article <1k78j4INN3kh@slab.mtholyoke.edu>, jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz) writes:
> 
> When DEC announced last spring that they wouldn't
> be porting OSF/1 to existing MIPS machines the users screamed bloody 
> murder and DEC management said "oops" and quickly announced that they
> had changed their mind.  ....

  But was that whole "exercise" really one of decision-making or to give a
  clear "signal" to software vendors not to waste their time ?  You know,

    DEC: "OSF/1 and MIPS forever !!!
          The golden sliced bread !!"

    DEC: (six months later) "OSF/1 and MIPS ? Never !! 
         Alpha, the golden sliced bread !!"

    USERS: "You damn bloody well better !!"

    DEC: "Oh well, ok, for a while, however.....
          it's still Alpha, the golden sliced bread !!"

    VENDORS: "OSF/1 and MIPS ??? *@^#^@# You gotta be kidding !!
              (rhyme ? we don't need no stinking rhyme.  Reality
               is it's own poetry ...)"

  
> If I can't rely on DEC to support the investment I've made
> in them, I'm going to turn to Sun and/or HP which have a better track-
> record -- and guess what -- are profitable as companies because of it.
> 

  There seems to be a lot of that going on, around these parts, anyway, but
  substitute "IBM" (RS/6000) for "Sun".  Not that IBM is having an easy time
  of it either.  It's a tough (impossible ?) business to be in the computer
  vendor business these days.  Wouldn't want to be in their shoes, no way
  sir.  Life's too short as it is.

  greg pavlov
  pavlov@fstrf.org

|> Hi!
|> 
|> I have heard a rumour that DEC is going to sack
|> OSF for MIPS.....
|> That means no shared librarys among other things.

I too waited patiently for osf/1 to cure all my Ultrix Ills.  Then I
realized that I was actually,
and stupidly, listening to nothing but words from DEC sales.  I then
asked myself if I was
really looking for a NEW and IMPROVED UNIX or just a UNIX that does the
job well.  I concluded
that osf/1 may have a future, but not with me.  I won't say that I plan
to dump dec, but since
I plan to transition to svr4, you can guess what I am thinking.
 
|> Why oh why DEC, how can you treat us, the faitful users like this?

I believe that it is because with all the wisdom of DEC, they must know
more about
what we need than we do.  Actions speak louder than words.  I prefer to
define what
my needs are and then select a vendor that provides what I need, not to
follow the vendor
to the promised land.  Sometimes the promised land is just a place full
of promises.  If I ran 
DEC, I would go to a single chipset and then provide the o/s and
applications needed to 
fit the needs of a majority of my customers.  I would eleminate less
profitable product lines
in favor of those that are selling well and transition my faithful
customers to the new line with 
really GREAT incentives, even at a loss.  I would let the chips fall
where they may and then 
build on the new line to gain marketing focus.  I suspect that MAY be
DEC's plan, but from 
what my sales person says, DEC still acts like it is trying to be all
things to all people.
  
Keith
kchiles@arac.llnl.gov