For those who have installed the 2021 version of MCP Express and have not otherwise heard, this is the final release Unisys will make for this product. In August, Einar Flaathe kindly posted on comp.sys.unisys the following information that he had received from Unisys MCP Express Support concerning the release:
You are correct in that the MCP Express 6.0 content is the same as what was delivered 2H2020. The one difference is the original MCP Express 6.0 expired July 31, 2021 whereas the current package will expire December 31, 2021.
This is the last planned deliverable for MCP Express.
We encourage those who would like to continue to use an MCP environment to consider purchasing MCP DevStudio Personal Edition, or another ClearPath MCP Software Series offering, which provides an upgradable, non-expiring, supported environment.
One clarification I should make is that by "non-expiring" Unisys means that it doesn't expire on a given date each year. You license the software for a specified term, typically three or five years, and it becomes inoperable after that time unless you renew the license.
Presently, my understanding is that in the U.S. the cost of a Personal Edition license is on the order of $1500-$2000 USD per year, including maintenance and subscription.
- Maintenance allows you to access the non-public portions of the Unisys support site, to download and install updates and fixes for your current release, and to submit trouble reports and new-feature suggestions.
- Subscription allows you to upgrade major releases, e.g., from MCP 20 to MCP 21, during the term of your license. Subscription requires that you also purchase maintenance.
If you do purchase a license, I strongly encourage you also to purchase at least maintenance; otherwise you will not be able to receive any updates or fixes.
This blog to date has been mostly about installing and configuring MCP Express, as that is the topic on which we received the most questions. The bulk of what I have written, however, applies equally well to DevStudio editions and other MCP products. There is plenty more to say about MCP systems, so there are no plans for the demise of this blog.
Another newsgroup had a post from somebody who seems to have found a source for the software; the terms were 1) 5-yr licence 20,000 Euro, 2) Must have a real company to bill to.
Well, I can arrange the company thing but the 20 grand would be more difficult; the rate you quoted, though, might be doable.
I’d like to find out for myself. Can you post a link? I’m Canadian, eh, so one that would work for me would be good.
The old XE1000 seemed a bit unimaginative; there are many options that could be cheaply invoked to make a Personal Edition unattractive to a profit-making corporation. CPU slowdown to MicroA or A7 performance levels (restriction to single CPU was probably insufficient), for example, would be acceptable to me.
Thanks
Aww, that’s kind of sad. I hadn’t been ‘playing’ with MCP Express since the fall of 2020 when I acquired an M1 Mac and mothballed my MacPro. Since the new M1 does not support Parallels to run native Windows 10 I was sort-of stuck. And, I guess it’s a bridge a bit-too-far to ever expect a version of MCP to run on Apple Silicon … although that might be a good thing.
Having just heard of Mcp Express a while ago, I’m a little mad at Unisys for stopping it. I’m an old systems programmer on the B and A series and was. excited that I could examine what’s new.
I’m a little surprised they did’nt continue it with a reasonable charge for a license. It’s not like they don’t
have to continue MCP support on Pc’s. The least they could do is tier there development packages to reduce the license fee.
What kind of influence does Unite have with Unisys? Could Unite membership petition Unisys to re-think their MCp express options?
Thanx for the listen
George – you’re not the only one who is severely disappointed. MCP Express was based on MCP 18, ca. 2017, what those of us with some longevity would recognize as SSR 59.1, or even further back as Mark V.91 (or maybe it’s Mark LIX.1, I dunno). Among networking, tools, integration with Windows and Linux, and performance, there was a lot that you would have found to be new.
MCP Express was an experiment on the part of Unisys. I think they wanted to see if they could generate a broader area of interest and get some universities to use it in classes, producing some graduates who would go forward into their careers with that experience, and grow the customer base. There was some of that, but mostly they got a bunch of hobbyists that wouldn’t do a thing for growth, and at least some instances of people using it to do real work that (at least to Unisys) should be have been done by systems that generate them revenue. So they terminated the experiment after a few years.
Personally, I think the experiment needed to run quite a bit longer — you can’t stimulate a community, let alone long-term growth in adoption, with that quick a dip in the pool.
There is still a PC-based version (from which MCP Express was derived, actually), Developer Studio Personal Edition, but Unisys intends that as a professional-grade tool. The last time I looked (it’s been a few years), U.S. pricing was about $10K for a five-year license with support. No mere hobbyists need apply.