Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!pesnta!greipa!decwrl!decvax!ucbvax!ucdavis!lll-crg!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA From: WANCHO@SIMTEL20.ARPA (Frank J. Wancho) Newsgroups: net.micro.cpm Subject: Is CP/M Dead (or) Turbo buy fun Message-ID: <2454@brl-tgr.ARPA> Date: Sat, 26-Oct-85 04:15:24 EST Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.2454 Posted: Sat Oct 26 04:15:24 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 30-Oct-85 05:32:38 EST Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA Lines: 36 Bob, First, let's clarify one point: if you judge the vitality of an operating system, or anything else for that matter, on the basis of vendor support, then there are many popular, but dead products out there. In the case of CP/M and DRI, it was CP/M-Plus that was put out to pasture under the heading of Level "D" support "for mature products that are not actively supported". CP/M 2.2 (CP/M-80) has been assigned Level "C" support, which is limited to questions submitted on CompuServe and phone calls. Now, that is not as good as Level "B" ("active support", meaning they'll eventually answer letters, too) nor Level "A". But, it's not dead, or in the "mature" catagory as far as DRI is concerned. Of course, the counter argument is that CP/M-80 was never supported by DRI in the first place. Ever try to call in the early days and get an answer? Just because Adam Osborne says there's no future in CP/M-80 doesn't mean that it is dead. There's a difference. The market for CP/M is simply mature and mostly saturated. If you're going to write software, don't bother writing for CP/M - write for the hungry mass market that's still trying to catch up with the rest of us using tight, functional, and efficient programs. There's a future and a fortune there, not in CP/M. There are about maybe 2 million CP/M users out there, many of them perfectly content with what they have and don't need anything else. See Jerry Pournelle's column this month for one, possibly prevelant viewpoint, at least among us diehards, and note that Jerry has a choice. --Frank