Microport Status, Net Buyout

[Tom Frauenhofer]

I see several (there are doubtless more) issues with the Micrport OS's:

1) Kernel Maintenance: how are fixes to the kernel done?  Who does them?
   (This is as much a legal issue regarding AT&T and access to the kernel source
    as well as a question as to how the support operation works)
2) Drivers:  Same as kernel, plus new drivers for new hardware devices.
3) Documentation: Maintenance, writing.
4) Utilities: Microport has tried (at least) to upgrade the tools using source
   from newer revs of UNIX System V from AT&T (by the way, this is addressed
   mostly to V/AT users).  How do we get access to these?
5) System V Release 4: Will this company attempt a port to the 386?  Or will it
   simply maintain the releases and let other companies (Bell Tech, Interactive)
   handle this market?

None of this addresses communications with the existing user communities.

All in all, I think the best bets for us users are eiter (A) get some company
to buy Microport and promise support for their products (and include
enhancments and upgrades for V/AT), or (B) try to eliminate our dependence
on Microport-written code and get some businesses that use V/AT to form a
corporation to maintain the kernel.

I favor option (B).  It would be quite an effort (probably similar to the
Berkeley port to the AT that has been underway for several years), but it also
has the advantage that we could chuck the V/AT serial port driver in favor
of our own - that might cut down some of the bandwidth in this newsgroup
vis-a-vis Micrport's serial driver.  I would be willing to establish
my home machine as a V/AT hub to make the drivers (with their source code)
available to other users.

Comments?

Thomas V. Frauenhofer	...!rutgers!rochester!cci632!ccird7!tvf
*or* ...!rochester!cci632!ccird7!frau!tvf *or* ...!rochester!rit!anna!ma!tvf1477
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