What's wrong with SCO Unix

[Rich Braun]

I've gotten several criticisms for my posting inquiring about the identity
of the person quoted below, and I'd like to set the record straight.
Unfortunately the tongue-in-cheek nature of my posting didn't come across
at all; netnews can't possibly read the expression of one's face as a posting
is made, it only quotes the verbal statements made.

In my own defense, I'd like to re-quote the original article and ask
just how professional it really seems.  It was basically a presumptive
attack on SCO, and my posting--contrary to some of the complaints I've
received--was intended to deter unwarranted attacks on vendors.  I say
it was presumptive because the writer states he's not an SCO user himself.
Having been challenged before whenever I've criticized software that I've
not personally used, I've posted a challenge to this writer.

And I think a good healthy dose of skepticism *is* warranted whenever
information of interest to corporate marketing departments is posted or
requested on the Internet.  The Internet's mandate is to provide a free
flow of information necessary for the research environment.  Conflicting
with that goal is a need for security of information within the real-world
business environment.  The only way for Usenet/Internet to prosper is to
balance these needs carefully.

It's my assertion that the posting below showed blatant disregard for
the ideals of the Internet, as I've interpreted them.  Naturally, people
are free to disagree with my presumptions regarding these ideals.  At the
very least, I have to admit that I was offended when I first read the
posting, even though I'm no particular fan of SCO (after all, I have to
*use* it every day!)

-rich

dvb at emisle.emisle (David Van Beveren) wrote:
>There has been a lot of talk about how horrible SCO Unix really is compared to
>other PC Unixes. I have used ISC for 2+years and am relatively happy. Today a
>customer told me he wants to order SCO. My first thought was OH NO, its full
>of bugs, and generally horrible. Then I started thinking, and realized I don't
>know what these bugs really are, if they exist at all.
>
>Please send me descriptions of all SCO bugs you know about. I want to know how
>bad this product really is. Also, if you think it is great, let me know. I hope
>I get lots of mail on this one. I will give it a week, then post my findings.
>Please, give me some dirt I can use to convince my customer to get ISC. I know
>it is what I want, I just don't know why :-)
>
>send to either address below. Thanks in advance
>-- 
>David Van Beveren                           INTERNET: emisle!dvb at ism.isc.com
>EIS ltd. Professional Software Services     UUCP:   ..uunet!emisle!dvb
>voice: (818) 587-1247