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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!nntp.coast.net!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!brighton.openmarket.com!decwrl!usenet.cisco.com!iverson From: iverson@cisco.com (Tim Iverson) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.networking,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Getting off the stick [was Re: TCP latency] Date: 20 Jul 1996 00:59:52 GMT Organization: cisco Lines: 53 Message-ID: <4spb28$kpl@cronkite.cisco.com> References: <4paedl$4bm@engnews2.eng.sun.com> <4seo88$fqd@fido.asd.sgi.com> <4sesh4$2ls@dworkin.wustl.edu> <31EDBDA2.41C67EA6@FreeBSD.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: rottweiler.cisco.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.networking:45861 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:24019 In article <31EDBDA2.41C67EA6@FreeBSD.org>, Jordan K. Hubbard <jkh@FreeBSD.org> wrote: |And then we wonder why people aren't exactly rushing to clamber aboard |the S.S. UNIX anymore, prefering instead, for some strange reason, the |Queen Elizabeth II. Hmmm. One nice thing -- you can pilot the SSU yourself, while the captain of the QE2 will only let you look at the wheel. If you just want to cruise to Bimini and back, take the '2. Otherwise, you *need* the SSU. Free Unix isn't *competing* with Microsoft. It is competing for a niche that MS not only can't fill, but does not want to fill. |Pride goeth before the fall. Face it - porting software to new |platforms is hard, and most companies won't even bother unless they're |guaranteed a potential customer base far greater than Linux or *BSD Hmmm. Trite, but "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." If you really want developers to support *BSD, provide the Win95 or NT interface, even to the driver level. Lotsa work, but far less than trying to convince all the developers to port to *BSD. |is still on, what about in 5 years? If this is all going to be down the |drain by then, why are we even wasting our time now? Yes, I do this |primarily for fun right now too, but I expect that to get old in a IMHO, it takes an OS 10 years to become stable enough to really use. If you're worried about 5 years from now, then you should be looking at 5 year old OSes. Frankly, I don't see anything on the horizon that can even remotely compete with Unix. Unix is the champion of versatility. In five years, it will just be that much more versatile. I think this trend will continue until we see a fundamental revolution in the way people use computers. And, predicting that moment is like trying to get a close look at your own blind spot. ... Hard to pin down, eh? ;-) |If the various OS camps don't wake up to this soon, THAT is what is |going to kill them, not the Linus vs *BSD fights or the fighting between |the *BSD camps themselves - that's merely arguing about a stubbed toe |while an 18 wheeler is bearing down on you from behind. Focus on the |*serious* deficiencies, please! So, you want a standard API, eh? Start a consortium. No one likes dancing to Bill's tune, if you're clever about it you may find enough backing to make Billy-Boy dance to yours! - Tim Iverson iverson@lionheart.com