Future direction of A/UX?

[John Gilmore]

km at mathcs.emory.edu (Ken Mandelberg) wrote:
>                               Actually, beyond some vague
> comments on increased MacOS compatibility, I have heard nothing
> about the feature content of future versions of A/UX. Certainly
> nothing about the Unix only features.

That's because Apple is unlikely to provide any.

My guess is that Apple has sold between 1500 and 3000 copies of A/UX.
This is probably the level they are comfortable with.  Any customer
who runs A/UX is likely to switch to a different brand for their next
computer, since Apple hardware doesn't compete on price/performance.
The reason to sell A/UX at all is that GSA won't let US Government
departments buy any computers that can't be upgraded to run Unix.

This rationale also points up why the only development Apple is doing
on A/UX is "increased MacOS compatability".  If they can get the few
A/UX users locked in to the proprietary MacOS toolbox, they won't be
able to switch to more cost-effective hardware.  There is no point in
doing any more than this, since the number of units they want to sell
would never pay back the investment.  And it accounts for why Apple is
not marketing A/UX -- they don't WANT to sell copies.  Even the
Government purchasers are supposed to run MacOS -- UNIX is just there
to get past the GSA.

> I certainly could ask many questions. Will A/UX support:
>   -- X/NeWS server

I can certainly answer this one.  NO WAY!  We sold NeWS on A/UX since
the day A/UX was introduced, and were probably the first third party
product to ship on A/UX.  We have gotten zilch help from the formal
channels at Apple.  They don't WANT other display technologies or user
interfaces to compete with the Toolbox.  Especially not ones from Sun!
We have gotten some support from a few individuals scattered around
within Apple, but the corporate line is solidly against us.

Don't expect their X server to compete with the toolbox, of course.  I
expect it to remain slower, cost more, and never interoperate with MacOS or
Toolbox applications.  (When we told them we wanted to put NeWS, X, and
MacOS windows on the same screen at the same time they said it was not
possible.  This from the 'innovators' in user interface technology!)

This entire message is my opinion, based on trying to sell third party
software for A/UX for more than a year.  Correction or corroboration welcome.
-- 
John Gilmore    {sun,pacbell,uunet,pyramid,amdahl}!hoptoad!gnu    gnu at toad.com
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