My take is this. If any of this is going to survive the client has to be ubiquitous and free. Whether you believe in Open Source or not, there seems to be way too much evidence that if you try to milk both ends of the cow (client and server) you don't get far these days. Doesn't matter whether the total functionality is better or not. (BTW, a quick look at IBM's revenue stream Services vs. Product, should be an effective way to get the message across). I am continually perplexed by some of the IBM/Transarc marketing decisions. There seems to be a continual push for some new sort of client or gateway product, with a per seat charge. I see no purpose for things like DFS Connect and DFS Lite. In addition, important things like OS/2, Linux or *BSD native AFS clients and MR-AFS are left by the wayside! No evidence of any Transarc bandwidth going to Disconnected cm's/Coda function. Existing AFS customers have been screaming for stuff like this for years. The attitude from Transarc seems to be, "Ok, buy a source license and have fun!". I have long hoped that maybe by watching what DEC, Apple, Netscape, and Sun (read about their recent announcement to throw resources at Linux on Ultra-Sparc) have all done recently, that maybe someone at IBM would get a hint. I believe that something like AFS will still exist years from now. My bet is that it will be some sort of non-proprietary work-alike off of the Internet, though. -- Chris Cowan [EMAIL PROTECTED] 512-342-3635 (always) 614-677-3784 (until 6/1/98)
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