Return to BSD News archive
Xref: sserve comp.unix.misc:10607 comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit:5201 comp.unix.bsd:13137 comp.windows.x.i386unix:5957 biz.sco.general:9556 Newsgroups: comp.unix.misc,comp.unix.pc-clone.32bit,comp.unix.bsd,comp.windows.x.i386unix,biz.sco.general Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!yeshua.marcam.com!nic.hookup.net!news.moneng.mei.com!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!newsrelay.iastate.edu!news.iastate.edu!pv141b.vincent.iastate.edu!sheldon From: sheldon@iastate.edu (Steve Sheldon) Subject: Re: SCO market share Message-ID: <sheldon.756428144@pv141b.vincent.iastate.edu> Sender: news@news.iastate.edu (USENET News System) Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA References: <1993Dec11.012449.99@kf8nh.wariat.org> <2ec989$knu@vanbc.wimsey.com> <2efuku$4vj@rhombus.cs.jhu.edu> <9312142221.aa02201@fags.stonewall.demon.co.uk> <2f4qd0$k9f@slab.mtholyoke.edu> Date: Mon, 20 Dec 1993 22:55:44 GMT Lines: 29 In <2f4qd0$k9f@slab.mtholyoke.edu> jbotz@mtholyoke.edu (Jurgen Botz) writes: >I wouldn't be so sure of that... especially for large consumers >(i.e. big corporations) free operating systems to which they have easy >access to the source may turn out to be cost-effective to support and >more reliable in the long run. Time will tell, but so far the signs >are good. This attitude is completely contrary to the marketplace trends. More and more companies are trying to get away from software written and supported in-house, to use generic commercial software supported by others. Here at Iowa State this is even the trend. In the past the university had the source code to DEC's Athena, and fixed and patched as bugs cropped up, then relaying those patches back to DEC. Now, they've gotten to the point where they want to plug DEC's software in, have it work, and if it doesn't work report the bug to DEC, and have DEC fix it. It really is a lot easier for a company like DEC to keep on staff a couple dozen programmers who know their operating system inside and out, then for each and every university or company to keep on staff one or two people, in addition to their regular support staff, to fix operating system bugs. I feel your ideals are very noble, but they are out of date in today's marketplace. -- Steve Sheldon [These are my own opinions] Iowa State University ICSS Resource Facility by day sheldon@iastate.edu ProMap, Inc. by night