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Received: by minnie.vk1xwt.ampr.org with NNTP id AA1432 ; Tue, 23 Feb 93 14:41:39 EST Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!network.ucsd.edu!pacbell.com!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!cs.utexas.edu!torn!utcsri!relay.cs.toronto.edu!smoke.cs.toronto.edu!cs.toronto.edu!tg Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,alt.suit.att-bsdi From: tg@cs.toronto.edu (Tom Glinos) Subject: Idle speculation about USL's ability to compete Message-ID: <93Feb17.105411edt.556@smoke.cs.toronto.edu> Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto References: <1993Jan27.215738.12384@igor.tamri.com> <1kbtpf$e9h@agate.berkeley.edu> <1993Feb3.175211.13214@igor.tamri.com> <C23r6s.590@sugar.neosoft.com> <BZS.93Feb13221411@world.std.com> <93Feb16.101301edt.1217@smoke.cs.toronto.edu> <BZS.93Feb16143724@world.std.com> Date: 17 Feb 93 15:54:33 GMT Lines: 33 In article <BZS.93Feb16143724@world.std.com> bzs@world.std.com (Barry Shein) writes: > >With all due respect I think that Novell is smarter than that sort of >over-simplicity. That presumes that BSDI/Net2 somehow trashes USL's >ability to make money in the market place, highly unlikely, unless USL >is just not capable of competing which may be true and what motivates >their reliance litigiousness. In writing news articles to fit under a page, you at times have to present highly compressed articles that may appear to over-simplify your arguements. Novell is not only buying the product, they are buying the people as well. Although I think highly of some people at USL and various parts of SVR4 I don't think the management is particularly stellar at USL. USL, over the last decade, has failed to provide the leadership in marketing and technology. They have consistantly come out with sub-optimal solutions to conflict situations. I ask myself, could I have done better? I think I could. Other things to ponder. Why would AT&T buy/keep NCR if they were going to throw away the software side of the equation? >It's not hard to argue that the complete opposite would occur: BSDI et >al making Unix much more ubiquitous and continuing that tradition of >experimenting with new features in Unix which can, if successful, >later be adopted by more conservative vendors. I only wish that was true. But I don't yet see how current or future market forces could make that happen. Hence, my rather gloomy signature. I hope I'm wrong. -- ================= Prediction, 1993, Year the UNIX | Tom Glinos @ U of Toronto Statistics industry collapsed | tg@utstat.toronto.edu