CDROM distribution of SUN software

[Jay Plett]

In article <938 at brchh104.bnr.ca>, bgsuvax!herber at cis.ohio-state.edu (Steve Herber) writes:
  ... [ on Sun distribution media ] ...
> Am I alone in thinking I got jerked around ...

No, you're not alone.  I too think Sun is arrogantly disregarding its
customers' needs and problems with its policy on distribution media.

I have one department with two 4/280 servers and Sun3 and Sun4c clients.
These servers were Sun's premier product less than 2 years ago.  They have
only a 1/2" tape drive.  They do not have SCSI interfaces, a perfectly
reasonable and common configuration at the time they were purchased.  It
will probably be a year or two before they can be upgraded.  Installing
4.1.1 will be a nuisance because Sun4c is available only on 1/4" tape or
CDROM.  I have a 1/4" drive on the subnet, but it can't be attached to the
servers because they have no SCSI interface.  I wouldn't mind buying a
CDROM, but I'm loathe to spend the money for a SCSI interface for a
machine that will be retired in a year or two.  SVR4 will be even more
annoying, since I won't even be able to bootstrap the servers from the
only available media (CDROM).

IMHO, Sun should support its installed base during a reasonable
amortization period.  Support includes distributing OS media from which
their machines can be bootstrapped.  I think Sun should do two things:

1. Continue supplying the OS on 1/2" and 1/4" tapes for all architectures
   for at least 3-5 more years.

2. Provide a software utility which enables customers to cut their own
   bootable 1/2" or 1/4" install tapes from the CDROM.  Then larger customers
   could purchase one set of media and make whatever media they need, and
   field offices could take care of their smaller customers.

If Sun thinks that supporting their customers with appropriate
installation media is too expensive, then they should include free SCSI
interfaces with their cheap special on CDROMS.

Now, don't anybody get me started on SVR4 and no-Sun3-support.  I might
get really mad.  So far I've managed to suppress thoughts of what it will
be like to support an oxymoronic heterogeneous single-vendor subnet.