All over the continent, the same issues about the future of Unix are being argued out just as they are in the US and here in the UK. It’s taken a little time to get here, but CUBiX Computersysteme GmbH of Munich sends us this report (well it was in German when we received it) of a successful Unix event that was held at a Schloss in Rothenburg ober der Tauber, Bavaria a month or so back.
West German Unix specialists ComputerLinks and CUBiX were highly delighted at the success of the Unix conference held at the Schloss Eisenhut in Rothenburg in July. There were 100 guests at the non-profit event organised under the patronage of the German Unix User Group, with firms from the data processing world such as Siemens, Nixdorf, MIPS Computer Systems, Data General, and Toshiba represented, as well as users such as Daimler Benz, Du Pont and Heller. Queues Organisers and participants were in Rothenburg the day before the opening to set up demonstration systems to display ideas on software development, quality control methods, networking and graphical user interfaces: computer systems from Siemens, Schneider Rundfunkwerke, IBE and Televideo Systems amongst others were brought in, while the Eurix developer Generics set up the networking system for the show using TCP/IP. ComputerLinks provided the hardware for the terminal connections, X Window was chosen for the graphic interfaces, and VP/ix was used for MS-DOS emulation. EVT, the applications generation language from Fruth GmbH, and the Saturn test equipment system from Zott & Co, were the main pieces of software demonstrated. Next morning queues were reported outside the conference room as over 100 guests eagerly awaited the first talk. After a few opening words from CUBiX’s Herr Gerlich, Herr Dr Laengle of the German Unix User Group committee officially welcomed the guests. Herr Broeking, the marketing director of International Data Corp, then gave a report on the latest IDC study of the Unix market, which found that 32,500 Unix systems had already been installed in West Germany by 1988, with producers achieving a turnover of around $1,000m. According to IDC, this would grow to $2,500m by 1993 – which would mean 143,000 Unix systems in West Germany. Over a third of these would be personal computer-based systems – for the sake of brevity, this development was referred to as PC-Unix for the rest of the show. PC-Unix Herr Dr Grueter, financial director of ComFood, talked about market strategies and new directions for the Unix Personal Computer. Dr Grueter claimed that with 80386 computers, it was possible to build complete Unix systems at a price that could compete even with personal computer networks, and with the wide availability of German applications, greater success in the market was ahead. Dr Grueter argued that the personal computer market was a mass market, with users previously going for MS-DOS computers: according to Dr Grueter, PC-Unix would be successful only if it were simple and were capable of understanding the language of the user and the system manager. Equally important would be good support from the maker of the product. Eurix V.3.2, as an example of a German Unix system, met these demands. Dr Grueter did not believe in the popular notion that a future office would have a Unix workstation with X Window and Motif at every desk, because the cost of increasing graphics and storing facilities would be immense, so wiping out Unix’s potential price advantage over proprietary systems. The commercial market is at present characterised by multi-user systems to which serial terminals are linked, continued Dr Grueter. Networking is achieved with TCP/IP. If graphics terminals are required, $2,000 X terminals have to be included in the network. Thus, the applications computer has to waste time building up the individual pixels for the graphics display – despite the fact that the latter has its own powerful processor. Dr Grueter sees the direction ahead for PC-Unix as being with qualified re-sellers and systems houses who can make use of PC-Unix’s flexible structure. (The co
ncept of PC-Unix is particularly appealing to West German systems companies because users in the Federal Republic are exceptionally parsimonious when it comes to spending on computers equipment, and are always on the look-out for dramatically cheaper alternatives). Outdated The next speaker to the rostrum was Herr Fruth, financial director of Germering-based Max Fruth GmbH, who talked about software development with fouth generation language tools. Large investment in developing user interfaces has been made, and speedy preparation of prototypes and increased flexibility in software development has ensured an advantage in the market for software houses against firms using outdated methods. With such tools, costs are reduced and the software becomes a better buy. And with tools such as EVI it is also possible to implement large software projects with smaller teams. After Herr Apel, support chief for Informix GmbH, had given a brief history of relational databases, Herr Ultsch, financial director of Murnau-based Zott & Co GmbH talked about software quality control. The development of multi-user interactive software meant that clearly specified input sequences were tested for error freedom. It was better to test the software with a system that recorded and reproduced terminal sessions, so that errors could be accurately traced. Herr Roeck, chief developer of Eurix, discussed present-day Unix concepts and advances offered by Unix System V.4. Last of the main speakers was Herr Gutmann, in charge of graphic interfaces at Sun Microsystems, who spoke about the Open Look user interface, comparing and contrasting it with Motif – but he declined to say which standard would come out on top in years to come. The conference was officially ended on the terrace of the Eisenhut by Herr Wagner, marketing director of ComputerLinks.
