A Lame Product:: SCO OpenServer 6

Message ID: 275699
Posted By: bill_beebe
Posted On: 2005-06-22 18:45:00
Subject: A Lame Product:: SCO OpenServer 6

SCOX publshed in it's latest press release (http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050622/law011.html?.v=14) the features [sic] of its latest Unix release, OpenServer 6. If the gentle reader will bear with me I'd like to go down and comment on each new "feature".

"Large File Size Support -- SCO OpenServer 6 supports file sizes up to 1 TB, for both disk-based and network files. File systems can grow as large as 1 TB, and larger network files are supported through Network File System (NFS) v3."

Linux, Windows, AIX, and Solaris support 2TB or larger, and have for some time.

"Multi-Processor Support -- SCO OpenServer 6 now supports up to 32 processors."

So have Linux and Solaris for some time.

"Increased Memory Support -- General applications running on SCO OpenServer 6 can utilize up to 16 GB of general purpose memory, while additional memory can be dedicated for special applications, allowing databases to access up to 64 GB of memory."

Again, catching up to everybody else as mentioned above. And this is not 64-bit. This is 32-bit with address extensions available on Xeon.

And then there's this list of third-party products bundled with OpenServer 6:

"Java 1.4.2"

Too bad the rest of the world is already at Java 5 (1.5) Update 3.

"...latest versions of the MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, Apache Web server, Mozilla browser, Tomcat Java servlet container, Samba file and print services, and many others.

In addition, SCO OpenServer customers can use the familiar OpenServer desktop or use the KDE3-based desktop environment. SCO OpenServer 6 also supports the Firefox browser and OpenOffice suite of applications."

Hmmm... So you need all these infrastructure and desktop tools to add real value to the SVR5 kernel. If I wanted "real" Unix, I'd be using Solaris or one of the BSDs.

I apologize for the lameness of this message. But I'm so tired of this crap I don't care any more. OpenServer 6 is a pathetic System 5 distribution that is at least two years too late to really make a difference in the marketplace.

Message ID: 275704
Posted By: walterbyrd
Posted On: 2005-06-22 19:03:00
Subject: Who will use OSv6?

I guess people who are tied to ancient apps, and have no other reasonable upgrade choice.

When it comes to IT, especially in a down economy, a lot businesses refuse to see the writing on the wall. They won't switch platforms untils they are absolutely forced to do so. Then it's a big emergancy and everybody has to work all kinds of overtime.

*sigh*

Message ID: 275722
Posted By: atul666
Posted On: 2005-06-22 20:24:00
Subject: More OSR6 media coverage

Not a lot of media sites are covering the big OSR6 launch, but a trickle of stories are coming in.

ComputerWorld Australia has an article up.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1973654341;fp;16;fpid;0

The designated "excited SCO partners" this time are Home Hardware Stores and SysIntegrators. SysIntegrators we've heard from before, horking up pro-SCO quotes for the big release of OSR5 Update Pack 2, last February.

(http://www.sysintegrators.com/press/sco_02_18_2004.htm)

This Thadani guy seems like a real piece of work. He basically brags that his customers are sheep who do what they're told, and he's telling them to "back a winner" and buy SCO products.

Meanwhile, Home Hardware Stores is a Canadian hardware store chain. (Seems like a lot of these excited Legend customers hail from Canada. What gives, eh?) They're excited, because they can keep running their 15 year old custom inventory app. So they're suffering from vendor lock-in, and they're just happy because their vendor's still in business for now.

The best part of the article is at the end. Since Darl's a dumb jock, and he was at Yankee Stadium, cheesy sports metaphors were probably inevitable:

>>
SCO held its launch event at Yankee Stadium, and SCO Chief Executive Officer Darl McBride took advantage of the setting to infuse his remarks with baseball metaphors. "We're in the middle of a comeback here," McBride told the gathered crowd of customers, partners and press. "We're putting on our rally caps. Some people say 'you're too far down, you can't come back.' To those people I would say, did you watch the game last night here at Yankee Stadium?'"

The Yankees staged a stunning comeback Tuesday night, rallying from eight runs down to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 20-11. Wednesday afternoon, following SCO's event, the baseball team lost to the Devil Rays, 5-3.
<<

Message ID: 275730
Posted By: atul666
Posted On: 2005-06-22 20:44:00
Subject: More OSR6 media coverage II

IT Jungle has a story up now as well. This is the best article I've seen so far, providing a great deal of background on SCO OSes. Mr. Morgan does get in a dig at Linux at one point, suggesting there's still an outside chance that the Linux people swiped poor SCO's precious IP. But the article's good, and he clearly knows what he's talking about when he discusses OpenServer.

http://www.itjungle.com/breaking/bn062205-story02.html

This was an amusing bit:
>>
Yes, you can still run Xenix 286 binaries developed in 1986 for the 16-bit 80286 processor on today's 64-bit Xeon processors from Intel on top of OpenServer 6, bragged Sandy Gupta, SCO's vide president of development, at the announcement today. He said, in fact, that some game developers had tested Xenix 286 games on OpenServer 6 to make sure they still ran.
<<

Xenix 286 games. I just don't know what to say about that. I guess if you never quite finished Zork II back in the day, now you can buy OSR6 and keep trying.

Another interesting point is that although OSR6 technically supports up to 32 CPUs, none of SCO's remaining partners make that kind of high-end hardware. HP's x86 boxes top out at 4 cpus these days. Unisys seems to have quietly phased out their support for SCO products, and OSR6 support is probably not a top priority for IBM either, to put it mildly.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping there's a '1' missing in this sentence:
>>
For security-conscious customers, OpenServer 6 has its own 28-bit encryption...
<<

Also, I noticed that OSR6 starts at $599 (which gets you a whopping 2 concurrent users and max 1GB memory), while a SCOSource license still runs $699. So I guess SCO's figured out to compete with Linux on price, after all... :)

The texts of these Yahoo Message Board posts have been licensed for copying and distribution by the Yahoo Message Board users "bill_beebe", "walterbyrd", "atul666" under the following license: License: CCL Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike v2.0.