A/UX just a ploy? (Was Re: Is A/UX viable? Your advice sought)

[John Coolidge]

jason at cs.utexas.edu (Jason Martin Levitt) writes:
>In article <1990Jul31.232639.18896 at brutus.cs.uiuc.edu> I write:
>>My impression....[stuff deleted]
>>is that Apple is committed to A/UX for the long
>>haul. They've put a lot of work into 2.0, work that doesn't affect
>>government procurement requirements for UNIX-compatible systems
>>(how many government contracts require UNIX with MacOS support? :-)).
>>
>  I think you've got it backwards, John. Apple wants to deliver
>*MacOS* solutions, not Unix solutions. The government requires
>Unix, so Apple delivers an operating system that allows a nearly
>complete MacOS under Unix. Huzzah!

Again, I think this is only partially true. If UNIX was only
supposed to be there for purchase requirements and the like, Apple
would count on people to reboot the things into MacOS and use those
tools. The merger of the two means (I think) that they expect people
to get useful work done with both types of tools at the same time.
That's how I'm using 2.0, and I suspect that's how lots of people
will use it.

At the same time, the MacOS is moving, ever so slowly, towards
something a lot more like Unix. 7.0 is going to have virtual
memory, symlinks, and so forth. I've heard rumors (probably not
true, but fun :-)) that 8.0 should have protection and optional
preemptive multitasking.

At any rate, judging from the types of effort that went into 2.0
and what it appears (from hiring specs and so forth) Apple wants
in the development team for the long hall (3.0? :-)), I really
think the UNIX part of A/UX is here for the long haul. I expect
to see lots of UNIX features added to A/UX in future releases,
and lots of support for existing code, as well as further
integration of the MacOS into the UNIX world.

--John

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
John L. Coolidge     Internet:coolidge at cs.uiuc.edu   UUCP:uiucdcs!coolidge
Of course I don't speak for the U of I (or anyone else except myself)
Copyright 1990 John L. Coolidge. Copying allowed if (and only if) attributed.
You may redistribute this article if and only if your recipients may as well.