Item Subject: Nomination for Adager MemoCube
Denys posted to an NT list:

>     The 3000 is the most stable platform anywhere for heads-down,
>     hard-core OLTP.  It's also the easiest to administer.

This is exactly why Denys' position on MS Windows is such an enigma
for me.

On the one hand, he praises the 3000 (considered "dead" by the general
populus for the longest time, and a machine whose market share, as I
recall, is substantially less than that for the AS/400) for its ease
of use.

Thus, favouring a machine with relatively small market share
but "better" technology -- especially ease of use -- is not a problem.

He has stated before, though, that Apple's *attitude* was enough
reason to look elsewhere. And certainly I can understand that.
Heck, when the cheapest colour Mac was $6,000, you can bet I looked
elsewhere as well!

Times have changed, Denys. And while the Mac is longer competing with
the DOS prompt (which was the case in 1984), I believe you will find
much to like about the platform--and about the company as well.


If you look today, you'll find another platform emerging, one that
may surprise you. Who would have thunk that Apple would bet the farm
on a *Unix* server?! Yes, I know you're not keen on Unix, but please
do not condemn it on that alone.

Those who have used OpenStep have praised it deeply. The single
biggest gotcha, though, has been its price. With the increased volume
afforded by Apple, the new Rhapsody OS -- based heavily on OpenStep
and positioned as a server to compete directly with NT -- promises
to have a much greater impact. (Be sure to check out the developer
environment, including Interface Builder.)

One of the major features of Rhapsody is that it runs directly on
Intel hardware. And Mac hardware. The applications so written are
targeted at something called the "Yellow Box." This is part of
Rhapsody, so the apps run on the previously-mentioned bare hardware.
And on Yellow Box for Windows (95 and NT). (There was mention of
a Yellow Box for Mac OS, but not of late. Perhaps because Rhapsody
for PowerPC includes a "Blue Box" as well, to run Mac OS apps,
they may have decided against this.)


If you look on Monday afternoon, you'll see all of the above, plus... ?
(Hint: think "Oracle." And maybe deals with Lucent, IBM, and/or Sun.)

--Glenn Cole
  Software al dente, Inc.
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