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From: michael@memra.com (Michael Dillon)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.os.linux.development.apps,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Historic opportunity for free UNIX
Date: 1 May 1996 21:51:22 -0700
Organization: Memra Software Inc. - Internet consulting - http://www.memra.com
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Message-ID: <4m9f0a$kh9@sidhe.memra.com>
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Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.advocacy:47678 comp.os.linux.development.apps:15117 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18532
I beginning to think that this ease-of-use thing for UNIX is about to
explode in the same way that Linux exploded when Torvalds tied his kernel
together with the plethora for free UNIX apps, especially the GNU ones.
At that time there was no free UNIX and everybody knew that some GNU folks
were working towards something called the HURD. They had juas about all
the utilities needed, they had a compiler, but there was no OS kernel to
tie it all together. Then, BOOM!!! Linux appeared as a complete working OS
because Torvalds built a kernel, added the Minix FS and then had a
platform on which the GNU tools could run.
I've just discovered FVWM95 and Offix, both listed on the following WWW
page: http://www.xnet.com/~blatura/linapps.shtml
Here we have a version of fvwm that uses it's module facility to create
something that looks and acts a lot like the Windows 95 desktop. And in
Offix, some fellow has built a drag'n'drop skeleton that could very well
be the glue that ties disparate UNIX apps together. I quote:
The OffiX Project is an attempt to make Unix systems more
user-friendly. It is a set of tools that can communicate with
each other using an intuitive drag and drop scheme. The
following tools are provided with OffiX:
Files: a filemanager formely known as Xfm.
Editor: a menu-driven text editor.
Printer: a droppable print tool.
Trash: a wastebasket from which you can undelete files.
This is the very thing many of us have been discussing. I don't pretend
that these tools are ideal yet or in a finished and polished state. But
the strength of free software is the kaizen approach of incremental
improvements that can make it so.
Also today, I had a look at xvscan which adds scanner support to xv. I
looked at http://www.apache.com where they sell preinstalled Linux/FreeBSD
machines. I saw a WWW page for xpaint where they are adding filters thus
making it more like Adobe Photoshop than Paintbrush.
The pieces are all there and the explosion is nigh. Just as with the Linux
explosion, this will take us to a new level and you will see people
building and modifying apps to be Offix/fvwm95 compatible.
None of this is an endorsement for Linux since all of it will also work
just fine on FreeBSD systems.
And there are certainly things that the Linux crowd can learn from the
FreeBSD crowd. The CVS integrated code repository is one. The PORTS
collection is another. Imagine a future in which you have a choice of
installing your apps via an amalgam of the RedHat rpm and Debian pkg
systems or else grabbing the source from an amalgam of the CVS repository
and the PORTS system. Whether you prefer binaries or source code, it will
all be laid oiut there like a menu of choices.
AWESOME!
And where does Microsoft fit into all this? Well, as NASDAQ says, MSFT,
i.e. MiSsFiT
--
Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022
Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-546-3049
http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com