As long as we're speaking of migrations from MPE to UNIX/Linux, let me show 
you some of our results.

Last week I calculated the performance gains we've made over the last 25 
years. This was possible because we've been using test database (a real 
customer's database from 1984) and QueryCalc reports we wrote in the 
earliest versions of QC that we ran on an HP3000 Series 33. 

The newest reports were run just last week on the UNIX/PC client/server 
version of QueryCalc, which we now call QCReports. 

Migration of the database and reports was accomplished using (i) the 
QueryCalc/QCReports converter program, and (ii) the Eloquence database run 
on a small $500 Dell Linux box. Conversion of the reports took just a few 
minutes. Installation of the Eloquence database and conversion from IMAGE to 
Eloquence required a day, but it too was easy.

The Series 33 report ran in 22 minutes in 1985. The machine cost $165,000 in 
1978 dollars, which I'll now estimate to be equivalent to about $500,000.

The Dell Linux box cost less than $500 a few months ago. 

The same report now runs in 3.1 seconds. That's a 412,000-to-1 improvement 
in price-performance over our original HP3000. Perhaps more importantly, 
that's more performance than we could get out of the largest and most 
modern HP3000, regardless of price.

You can demonstrate this performance to yourself if you wish. You can 
download the new QCReports client from:

   http://aics-research.com/qcreports/updates/qcreports-setup.exe

It installs similarly to any other Windows-based program.

Once you've installed the program, run it from the start menu. You'll see that 
it looks like a standard spreadsheet, and it works very much like one. Every 
cell is a fullly functional numerical/financial calculator, a graphics grid and a 
query generator into a database. 

Notice the red rectangle at the upper-left of the display. This indicator light 
indicates that the client is not yet connected to a host. Use "File > Open" to 
open the report named "training-incomerp." This is the 1984 MPE/IMAGE 
QueryCalc test report, unmodified from that time, other than having been 
migrated.

As you open the file, you'll see this sequence:

  o  The indicator will turn yellow, indicating that the client has established an 
SSH connection with the small Dell Linux box that I was mentioning here in 
New Mexico.

  o  The indicator will then turn green, indicating that it completed negotiation 
with Eloquence and logged into the specified Eloquence database.

  o  The report "training-incomerp" will then load.

  o  The database schema for QCDEMO, which is the customer's database, will 
then be downloaded from the Linux box to your PC. 

At this point, you're ready to recalculate the report. 

To do that, type "!!" and press RETURN to recalculate the spreadsheet and all 
query questions. The report won't complete in the 3.1 seconds we experience 
here because of propagation delays in the internet, but it should complete in 
less than 10 seconds. You can then print the report if you wish.

All of this can be automated, and it has been,. Open a second report 
called "training-macro" using "File > Open". Once loaded, double-click on the 
now-visible button (which actually contains a script macro to load several 
reports sequentially, one of which is the income report we just calculated.) 

This macro presents the same report output reformatted several different 
ways: (i) as a simulated line printer output, (ii) in fancier fonts, and (iii) as a 
demonstration graphic, accompanied by two pie charts.

If you wish to now dispose of QCReports at the end of the demonstration, go 
to "Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs" and delete QCReports from your PC.

Wirt Atmar
 

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