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From: reggie@pdnbah.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions,comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: PS1 and the bourne shell...
Message-ID: <1824@pdn.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Nov-87 10:46:52 EST
Article-I.D.: pdn.1824
Posted: Mon Nov 30 10:46:52 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Dec-87 01:11:33 EST
References: <279@caus-dp.UUCP> <6704@brl-smoke.ARPA>
Sender: usenet@pdn.UUCP
Reply-To: reggie@pdnbah.UUCP (George Leach)
Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo, Florida
Lines: 48
Xref: utgpu comp.unix.questions:4603 comp.unix.wizards:5319

In article <3217@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> ekrell@hector (Eduardo Krell) writes:
>In article <7972@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> dawn!stpeters@steinmetz.UUCP (Dick St.Peters) writes:

>>Being at an R&D lab, I expect a company's research version of
>>something to be beyond what it sells.  However, at USENIX a few years
>>ago when Edition 8 was the AT&T research version, AT&T employees gave
>>the impression that a release of Edition 8 was in widespread use
>>within AT&T, not just at BTL.

>I don't have hard numbers, but I doubt 8th Edition is in "widespread"
>use, even in Bell Labs.  Most of the Computer Centers in Bell Labs
>run something called "R&D Unix" which is System V based, with extras.
>A lot of people run some version of System V.
>These are all supported products, and Computer Centers love to run those.

      Quite true!  8th Edition suposedly is quite difficult for a system
administrator to play with and requires much more care than System V or BSD.

>In "independent" computer centers (run by a particular lab or department)
>people run whatever they want.  Of course, you'll find 8th and 9th Edition
>running in computer centers in Research, where they come from.

       I spent the last four years working for an organization within Bell
Communications Research where we had "independent" computer labs as well as
access to Bellcore Computer Center machines (system V).  In our labs we ran
BSD-based systems, including 8th Edition.  The reason we had 8th Edition was
that the original lab for our project was running 8th Edition on a dozen DEC
VAX 11/750's with a Datakit Switch.  At the time of the divestiture of the 
Bell System we were entitled to keep 8th Edition.  Since that time the lab
has been moved to another building, the Datakit was trashed, and most of the
750's are now either converted over to System V or are being used as paper
weights!  However, there still is one or two systems running 8th Edition,
albeit an unsupported version.  This is in Piscataway, NJ.  I also understand
that Brian Redman has a lab in Morristown running 8th Edition as well.


         I don't know if legally, Bellcore has any further rights to new
developments under 8th or 9th Edition.  I doubt it.  I was a wonderful system
to develop under.  However, the capacity of the 750's and the general difficulty
of obtaining third party software for 8th Edition, eg. database manager, has
made 8th Edition's life at one lab in Bellcore minimal.  I feel it is a real
shame.  8th Edition is far superior to the commercial product from AT&T.


George W. Leach					Paradyne Corporation
{gatech,rutgers,attmail}!codas!pdn!reggie	Mail stop LF-207
Phone: (813) 530-2376				P.O. Box 2826
						Largo, FL  34649-2826