Beta test of SCO XENIX 2.3 supplement available

[Harald Milne]

In article <8482 at scorn.sco.COM>, rosso at sco.COM (Ross Oliver) writes:
> The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) Technical Support Department has developed 
> a new Support Level Supplement (SLS) xnx155b, the SCO XENIX 386 2.3 
                                                              ^^^^^^^
> Maintenance Supplement UFM Release 2.1, which will clear up many unresolved 
> problems with SCO XENIX 386 Release 2.3..

	And SCO XENIX 286 Release 2.3 has even more unresolved problems.

So far the following have been released for the 386, and NOT the 286:

lng085.Z  Update for SCO XENIX 386  Development System version 2.3  386AT,386PS
lng238.Z  /bin/ldr loader           SCO XENIX 2.3 Development System
unx204.Z  Logitech Bus Mouse        XENIX ver. 2.3.2 & UNIX 3.2.0   386AT
xnx141.Z  Select Pipe Support       version 2.3.2                   n386

Along with numerous tape drivers and other miscleanious updates.

	I asked the net recently what the current version of the SCO XENIX 
Development System for the 286 was, and was informed it is 2.2.1. 

    I became a bit alarmed since discovering lng085 became available for the
386 and not the 286, so I called SCO support. I mentioned that 2.2.1 doesn't
match XENIX 2.3.2 286AT OS, that documented system calls weren't available
to the Development system, along with other complaints about the flakiness
of the 2.2.1 286 compiler in general and so on.

	And the reply was:
       1. SCO has no plans to upgrade the 286 Development System. There are
		  no fixes or upgrades in the works or on the way.
       2. They agreed that the documented system calls not being available,
          was a problem, and the fix was to remove any mention of it in the
          286 OS manuals. And yet, the calls do exist in the kernel.
       3. Sorry. The tech support person was sympathetic to my predicament,
          and was suprised to discover these details. They even spoke to the
          Director of Software Development to see what, if anything would
          be done.

    So, as far I am concerned, SCO XENIX 286AT Development System is dead
and no longer supported. It was suggested by SCO to go to XENIX 386 for
development for the 286, which of course I can't. The 286 compiler is
Microsoft 3.0, while the 386 is 5.1. The timestamps of 286 executables date
back to 1987. 

	And now the trend seems to be in favor of maintenance support for XENIX
386, and not the 286 version of the exact same OS. There are supplements and
fixes being done for the 386, while the same version of XENIX for the 286
remains stagnant and unresolved.

    It's definitely beginning to look like XENIX 286AT OS is dead too. It has
been mentioned here on USENET on various occasions, that XENIX 286 would be
supported "indefinitely".

	I sincerely hope that this is not SCOs idea of "support".

	I have only had this software for a few months spending a total of $1300
dollars. I was going to get SCOs SoftCare support for the development system,
only to find that it DOA.

	I am getting the very uneasy feeling that I am getting burned by SCO.

	I hope not. It's a hell of a lot money to throw out the window!

> Telephone support for the pre-release xnx155b is not available.  Please
> submit all technical questions via electronic mail to uunet!sco!support
> or support at sco.COM.

	My question isn't technical in nature. It's simply:

        IS XENIX 286 DEAD??? WHAT'S THE STORY???

> Regards,
> 
> Eric Davis and Louis Imershein 
> UNIX/XENIX Product Leads
> SCO Technical Support

-- 
Harald Milne                   RISCy business	       uunet!ccicpg!boink!harald