>>>>> "Norman" == Norman Hill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Norman> Perhaps, but I can imagine that Transarc would be better
Norman> able to maintain a single program suite - especially on all
Norman> the platforms for which they try to support. A better idea
Norman> than continuing to maintain both AFS and DCE/DFS might be to
Norman> offer a DFS package that does not involve running or buying
Norman> the full DCE suite.
Hear Hear!
Except that you get your DCE/DFS package from your system supplier
(eg IBM HP DEC etc) and the supplier will be maintaining _their_ port
on _their_ platform (and providing the customer support).
I understand that Transarc are only porting DCE/DFS to a small
set of systems (compared to AFS) such as Sun platforms (any others?)
IMHO, it will be interesting to see how a complex system like DCE/DFS
will work consistently across all platforms with suppliers vieing with
each other to differentiate their own "added value".
I am curious to see how different releases will be managed by
all the suppliers. I wonder if there is greater potential for
problems of "inter-release" inter(not)working between suppliers versions.
Getting AFS from a single supplier seems somehow simpler, safer, and
more reliable (except for the downside of having to wait for them to
port to new versions of operating systems).
--
paul http://acm.org/~mpb/homepage.html
"We have to learn to manage information and its flow.
If we don't, it will all end up in turbulence." --Grace Hopper
