#ACAD for Xenix
Elsewhere on this thread is a message I wrote to Bill Sako. It was meant
for Tom Podnar and his flame on Autodesk's SCO Unix efforts.
To continue the reply:
Tom, you say you support customers. So to a certain extent you are
selling, I am assuming. I am a salesman. My recent sales experience is in
Asia. I am used to responding to customer objections that go like this:
"When you buy a TV, the TV programs are free. When you buy a computer,
isn't it the same thing?" I am still getting used to your North American
ways.
Can you tell me about the CAD programs that are multi-user and
multi-tasking on SCO Unix that you *DO* like to support? What forums
should I be visting in order to find out about these applications?
I do not personally run SCO Unix – but have met many of their people –
including their "John Walker" <Autodesk's is one of the 13 founders>. I
admit to being impressed and potentially desirous of running this OS. Here
is a thought: What If SCO concentrated on getting out great debuggers and
compilers? What if an SCO compiler could read DEC or SUN files? What if
porting an application from an extended DOS compiler to SCO was a piece of
cake?
Unfortunately, this is not so. Look at Duff's message. I'm sure he's only
talking about the tip of the iceberg.
Autodesk is as attracted to SCO Unix as you are. This is obvious because
they spent the millions needed to support a platform. <I am not privy to
to the amount Autodesk spends on a platform port – but looking at the
people's rolling eyes – it's not cheap.>
Therefore, we've got to live with the fact that SCO UNIX releases will NOT
be timely. Because it's difficult and expensive.
Hm, do you have any easier suggestions?