Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/3/84; site maynard.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!talcott!wjh12!maynard!campbell
From: campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell)
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Limiting logons to licensed number: how?
Message-ID: <136@maynard.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Aug-85 11:39:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: maynard.136
Posted: Fri Aug  9 11:39:10 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 12-Aug-85 07:30:05 EDT
References: <1029@ucbtopaz.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> <112@vcvax1.UUCP> <169@telesoft.UUCP> <442@petrus.UUCP> <274@kitty.UUCP>
Organization: The Boston Software Works Inc., Maynard, MA
Lines: 36

> > The competition with MS-DOS is also the reason for the "unbundling" of UNIX
> > into a basic part plus additional packages.  If you look at the way IBM PC
> > sales work, the base operating system is essentially zip (8 programs?!) and
> > the user/owner buys additional packages (spreadsheet, dbms, ...) to do
> > what she wants.  AT&T can't afford to give away a whole set of programs...
> 
> But it's not selling. It still costs $1000 to get UNIX for your PC. MS-DOS
> comes with the machine.

Be realistic.  With MS-DOS you get a wimpy filesystem, no multitasking,
and essentially no utilities.  Forget about multitasking, mountable file
systems, etc., let's just see what you'd have to add to MS-DOS to make
it even close to a typical PC Unix.  I'm using very rough rule-of-thumb
prices based on retail prices for comparable products:

	C compiler		$ 300
	lint			  500
	as			  100
	vi, ex, ed		  600
	plot, graph, spline	  200
	make			  100
	adb			  300
	nroff, tbl, neqn	  500
	spell			  100
	TOTAL			$2600

All of the utilities I've listed (and lots more) come with VENIX/86, which
sells for $800.  I think it's a bargain.  (Note that I didn't even list all
the stuff you just can't get for MS-DOS:  awk, bc, dc, sh, csh, uucp, m4,
tar, time, lex, yacc...)

> > Rich Hammond (Bellcore,not part of AT&T) ihnp4|ucbvax !bellcore!hammond
> 
> Peter da Silva, UNIX fan.

Larry Campbell, UNIX and VENIX fan.