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Re: USENIX Association Upcoming Events (fwd)



Alexander L. Belikoff writes:
 > "Stanislav Malyshev a.k.a. Frodo" <frodo@sharat.co.il> writes:
 > 
 > > 
 > > On Tue, 27 Jan 1998, Meir Litmanovich wrote:
 > > >To be ontopic more : What all of you thinking about Compaq
 > > >and Digital . I'm affraid Compaq will destroy all so nice
 > > >Linux for Alpha project .Any  opinions ?
 > 
 > > Why should it? Linux on Alpha - more Alphas sold. What's the problem here?
 > 
 > There IS a problem. There is a "strategic partnership" between
 > MicroSoft and Compaq. And the fact Compaq distributed SCO products as
 > well is due to the "agreements" in the past between MicroSoft and
 > SCO. Now that SCO has sued MicroSoft just to drop these "agreements"
 > and forget about the stupid Xenix compatibility code in their OSes,
 > you'll see OpenServer/UnixWare misteriously disappearing from Compaq
 > server products.
 > 
 > Same with Linux/Alpha. The latter product hardly generated any
 > revenue. It was just a matter of Alpha popularization. Compared with
 > the huge revenues due to the partnership with MicroSoft it's not very
 > difficult to guess which OS will be considered the primary one for
 > both high-end and low-end Alphas.
 > 
 > IMHO, Linux will persist on the Alphas, but there will never be such a
 > benevolent atmosphere as it used to be in the DEC.
 > 
 > -- 
 > Alexander L. Belikoff
 > Berger Financial Research Ltd.
 > abel@bfr.co.il

Digital already has an NT server that generates a lot of revenue (grew
97% in the 2nd quarter). Incidentally, this is also due to an alliance
with Microsoft.

I already see reports that most analysts expect Compaq to phase out
Alpha and stick with Intel chips. Although Compaq (notably the CEO,
Eckhard Pfeiffer) say that Alpha and UNIX are primary attractions, the
Common Wisdom has it that they won't advance the technology. The deal
is seen as a huge boost to Microsoft and Intel, in general.

If (and it is an IF - how many times analysts were wrong?!) this is
correct, then the "Linux on Alpha - more Alpha's sold" argument is
irrelevant.

Oleg Goldshmidt                
Berger Financial Research Ltd.
goldshmt@netvision.net.il