Is the 3b2 dead?

[Brinton Cooper]

In article <4781 at cuuxb.ATT.COM> fmcgee at cuuxb.UUCP (Frank W. McGee, attmail!fmcgee) writes:
>In article <1990Jun4.224210.23804 at aqdata.uucp> sullivan at aqdata.uucp (Michael T. Sullivan) writes:
>>:From article <3532 at wb3ffv.ampr.org>, by smarc at wb3ffv.ampr.org (Marc Siegel):

>>> I wonder how many other people out there work for companies that
>>> have LARGE investments in 3b2 hardware and software. We have several
>>> 3b2's that may not be supported very much longer. While nobody at
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>>Do you mean the whole 3B2 line or the 310/400 models?  I doubt the former
>>and I believe the latter has already been announced.  The low-end 3B2's
>>are slower than 386's so why not phase them out.  However, I have heard
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>In general, AT&T continues to support a product until 5 years after
>it has been manufacturer discontined (md'd) - ie, no longer
>orderable as a new product.  The worst case for the 3B2 would be the
>300/310, which was md'd last year I believe.  I 
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.p
>Frank McGee, AT&T
>Entry Level Systems Support


The disturbing thing about this discussion is that nearly all of the
responses are from AT&T.  Do they own this newsgroup?  Are  all AT&T 
computer owners completely dependent upon the company for all hardware
and software support? 

There are many of these low-end machines (300/310, e.g.) lying around
universities  that cannot afford to replace themwith 386 machines.  Is
there NO third party hardware or software for this stuff?  Are there no
hackers, in the finest sense of the term, who write improved software
for these machines?  

Folks who own IBM PC-class hardware certainly don't wait around for Big
Blue to write the next $49 program and sell it for $1500.  They don't
wait for the Company to produce a $75 peripheral with a $995 price tag.
Why do AT&T maching owners?  

The 3B2/300 and 310 may be slow machines and far behind the state of the
art.  But they're good computers; with a decent C compiler even the
bottom of the line 300 could do some scientific work.  Turbo C for PCs
has sold for under $99 on occasion.  Why don't we create a demand for
such a product on our machines?  Of whom are we afraid?

B

-- 
_Brinton Cooper		BRL - Where "Research" is our Middle Name.