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From: gavin@durban.vector.co.za (Gavin Maltby)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.aix
Subject: Re: ISP hardware/software choices (performance comparison)
Followup-To: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.aix
Date: 15 Jan 1996 19:49:30 GMT
Organization: The Vector Group
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Jason R Thorpe (thorpej@lestat.nas.nasa.gov) wrote:
: Sun, IMO, should have taken the 4.4BSD approach; compatibility with
: BSD interfaces, but the addition of the standardized interfaces. Imagine
: how cool SunOS 5 *could* have been if it were a 4.4BSD-derived system...
Maybe cool to a whole lot of people who still do not constitute the real
market out there. Sure it was a political/tactical decision to can
SunOS 4, but it would have been an unsound business decision to go it
alone. They would have been the champions of people like those in this
thread arguing so vigorously for SunOS 4, but they would have remained
a technical workstation niche market player. What do you think has
generated up to a billions dollars revenue growth for the last couple
of years? I suspect the go-it-alone approach would have a shrinking
Sun with reducing OS development budget.
Perhaps what the above says is that if you want the perfect BSD derived
OS then it has to be developed in just the way FreeBSD and Linux are
progressing. They're great, but it is still difficult to work out how
they're going to evolve to the point where major corporations are willing
to deploy on them. Would a bank run a treausry system on a system
with publicly derived OS code (just think of the number of backdoors
any one of a large group could build in---you can't count it out).
[snip]
: My personal belief is that if anything were to strangle Sun, it would be
: the hardware...I just don't get the same warm-fuzzy feeling about the SS20
: as I do the SS2 (which, you must admit, is one *hell* of a little
: work-horse). That SS2, I might add, is about 2 to 3 times faster
: running NetBSD than Solaris 2.4. Now, _that's_ a feature, which I plan
: to take advantage of now that I can run a modern BSD system on the SS20
: as well.
Don't ask the SPARC 2 to get too busy---it has a really broken MMU.
I worked for a long time on a SS2 with 4.1.1; my current workstation
is a SS20/50 with 2.5. No comparing them in *any* way. The SS2 was
a damned good machine at the time and stood out in the pack in many
ways. The SS20 isn't quite in that class, but it ain't bad. And the
Ultra machines are really hot (OK my opinion). The upcoming Ultra based
servers are extremely promising and innovative.
Cheers
Gavin
--
.
/| The
/ | Vector
/ | Group ---------------------------------------
/\ |____ Gavin Maltby, Vector Durban
/ \/| | Email: Gavin.Maltby@durban.vector.co.za
\ \| | Tel: INT+ 27 31 266 9948
\ | / Fax: INT+ 27 31 266 0811
\ | / Note: I speak for myself, and not
\ | / necessarily for Vector or Sun!
\|/ --------------------------------------
" Sun Partner in South Africa