X11R(>3) for AIX

[John Burton]

A simple question that has been asked alot, but I really haven't 
seen a reply to...Whats the future of X11 on the AIX platform?
Right now we're at X11R3, the *world* is eagerly awaiting the 
release of X11R5, and many X11 packages available NO LONGER
SUPPORT X11R3. I know IBM tends to move slowly and carefully,
but this is CRAZY!!! The workstation market is NOT a place
to be moving slowly!!! The RS/6000 is a screamer when it comes
to number crunching, but its a PAIN IN THE ASS when it comes
to porting UNIX & X11 software. Is IBM purposely trying to 
ignore the mass of software already developed for the UNIX & X11
world? I know there are alot of good people working for IBM,
and many regularly try to help others via the net, but look at
it from my point of view. I have a job to do, part of it involves
the care and feeding of an RS/6000 (and keeping the other users
happy) on a network of many different machines from DEC, SUN, CONVEX,
IBM, HP, SYMBOLICS, you name it, its probably on the net here.
The powers that be have decided to standardize on X11R4 and Motif 1.1
for machines running X. So, right from the start I'm at a BIG
disadvantage, and have to jump through *many* hoops just trying
to keep things working & stable and communicating to the other
machines. The other part of my job is scientific number crunching...
in this world, the RS/6000 is *great* (unless of course I have to
port software from another machine...:-). So IBM, if you're planning
on moving to X11R4 (or even R5) and Motif 1.1 (or greater) PLEASE
LET US KNOW and PLEASE DO IT SOON. If *not* PLEASE LET US KNOW so
we can dump this machine and get one that WILL do what we want.
Another possibility if you're not going to X11R4/R5, support MIT
to port X11R4/R4 to the RS/6000!

Sorry for the diatribe, I'm just frustrated trying to do my job
with one hand tied behind my back because the RS/6000 *doesn't*
support software I need...

This is not a flame against all the good folks that work for IBM,
just against a corporate slowness in keeping up with a fast moving 
workstation market...



John


+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| John Burton                                                        |
| G & A Technical Software                                           |
| jcburt at gatsibm.larc.nasa.gov                                       |
| jcburt at cs.wm.edu                                                   |
|                                                                    |
| Disclaimer: Hey, what can I say...These are *my* views, not those  |
|             of anyone else, be they employer, school, or government|
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