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- Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent
- Subject: Re: I predict ...
- Message-ID: <1993Jan03.212807.4392@acme.gen.nz>
- From: kilroy@acme.gen.nz (earthbound misfit, I)
- Date: Sun, 03 Jan 93 21:28:07 GMT
- Reply-To: kilroy@acme.gen.nz (earthbound misfit, I)
- References: <SJE.92Dec28170804@xylos.ma30.bull.com>
- Distribution: comp
- Organization: ACME BBS - Public Access Usenet, Palmerston North, New Zealand
- Lines: 51
-
- An interesting and sometimes amusing article! :-) But I doubt some of your
- predictions - time will tell.
-
- sje@xylos.ma30.bull.com writes:
-
- > Eenie, meenie,
- > Chili beanie,
- > The spirits are about to speak!
- >
- > For 1993, I predict:
-
- > [....]
- > The old MWC C compiler will continue to be bundled if only to make for
- > good ad copy.
-
- I think it'll be for more than ad copy. MWC were a compiler company first
- remember, and the K&R compiler is likely to be considerably faster than many
- of the alternatives for some time to come (and produce smaller code?)
-
- > 8) The X Window system will be ported, but only after the above listed
- > prerequisites appear.
-
- I doubt it. At least one Coherent user claims to be well on the way to
- getting X running in some form. A first hack at MGR is going already. It may
- not run across more than one machine, but now that the DDK is here I expect X
- will make some progress quite soon. (Admittedly to be really effective then
- the virtual memory and shared libraries are a must).
-
- > 14) And so not to annoy the tridekaphobics, one last prediction: One
- > year from now, it will be clear that Coherent will be either a big
- > winner or a big blowout. The deciding factor will not be the low
- > buy-in price, nor will it be the offical MWC support, nor will it be
- > the unofficial community support. The deciding factor will simply be
- > the number and magnitude of well known third party commecial
- > applications.
-
- I don't agree, I think the real answer will be somewhere in between. People
- like to expect either great booms (eg MWC) or total busts (anyone selling
- Real Unix, various Coherent skeptics) but reality tends towards more moderate
- answers. I expect Coherent will be doing quite well, a lot bigger in overall
- market than now and better equipped to take on the Big Boys, but I don't
- believe it'll have eclipsed MS-DOS or Unix SVR4 in sales.
-
- I'd be interested in what anyone at MWC would have to say to your
- predictions. They can probably make rather more accurate estimates of feature
- introduction schedules (although whether they do or not is another matter).
-
- - k
- --
- Craig Harding kilroy@acme.gen.nz ACME BBS +64 6 3551342
- "Jub'er lbh pnyyvat n obmb?"
-