Scheme compilers (fwd)

[Jordan Henderson]

On Fri, 11 Sep 1998, Mike McDonald wrote:
> >
> >On Fri, 11 Sep 1998, Mark Dulcey wrote:
> >> On Thu, 10 Sep 1998, Mike McDonald wrote:
> 
> >I think you'll find that Alphas running OSF (rebranded DEC UNIX several
> >years ago) will be quite available and possibly even more affordable
> >now that Compaq and DEC have merged.
> >
> >Compaq is 100% committed to the Alpha 
> >(see http://www.alphapowered.com/api_frameset.htm) and to DEC UNIX on
> >the Alpha (see http://www.digital.com/flash/f237/).  I have seen 
> >product briefings where Compaq has stated their intent to bring out
> >new Alphas for the foreseeable future running DEC UNIX.
> 
>   Remember, in corperate America, the forseeable future is about 6
> months. Or the CEO's next stock option date, whichever comes first.
> 
> >In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of questions about
> >Windows NT as an enterprise-ready platform.  The various UNIX's
> >hold all the benchmarksrecords in whatever application test you
> >care to make.  It is Compaq's intention to go after the big data
> >shop business with their acquisition of DEC and Tandem.  Why 
> >would they abandon the operating system that will probably be
> >used in high performance, transaction processing environments for
> >some time to come?
> 
>   Because their survival as a company requires them to remain in
> Bill's good graces!

IBM has done quite nicely while being firmly placed outside of
"Bill's good graces", thank you.  Gateway is going to start 
selling Amigas.  IBM and HP both have quite profitable Unix
divisions while also selling PCs.

This "common wisdom" just doesn't fly.  What is it that Microsoft
would do to Compaq?  Refuse to make the same OEM deals for Windows 
preinstalled on Compaq PCs that they make with other vendors?
Unlikely and illegal.

Also, Microsoft and Compaq just yesterday announced a broad
initiative to support integration of Windows and DEC UNIX.
See http://www.unix.digital.com/new/components_pr.html.  It seems
that of all UNIX systems, DEC UNIX has the least to fear from 
being snuffed out at Bill's whim.  Perhaps Bill is concerned
about the fact that Windows NT just isn't scaling like he said
it would and needs to make strategic alliances to support real
back-office scalability before he gets pushed out of markets.

Furthermore, it may well be Microsoft that will need to be concerned
about their survival as news of their business practices becomes more
and more widely known.  A particularly coincidental piece of news on this
front, seeing as we are discussing Digital, is available at 
(http://www.sjmercury.com/business/microsoft/docs/053098.htm).

Now, you might say that this news bolsters your argument, but I think
it actually is cautionary to Microsoft that this kind of thing is
not going to be tolerated now that it is more widely known and the 
DOJ continues to look into it.

I'm willing to wager that DEC UNIX (or whatever the new name for OSF)
will be available on Alphas sold by Compaq for quite a few years.


> 
>   Mike McDonald
>   mikemac@mikemac.com
> 
> 
> 

-Jordan Henderson
jordan@neosoft.com