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Xref: sserve comp.unix.bsd:8175 comp.unix.solaris:598 Path: sserve!manuel.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!sdd.hp.com!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!isi.edu!allard From: allard@isi.edu (Dennis Allard) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd,comp.unix.solaris Subject: Re: Solaris 1.1 vs. Solaris 2.0 (BSD vs AT&T) Message-ID: <22947@venera.isi.edu> Date: 25 Nov 92 00:42:25 GMT References: <BxLz6x.EL7@cs.uiuc.edu> <1992Nov13.232053.7061@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> <1992Nov16.075931@eklektix.com> <id.U_0V.SJ3@ferranti.com> Sender: news@isi.edu Reply-To: allard@isi.edu (Dennis Allard) Distribution: world Organization: USC Information Sciences Institute Lines: 31 peter@ferranti.com (peter da silva) writes: > ... Unfortunately, I suspect NT will do all this better and UNIX on > the desktop is doomed whether it's SV or BSD. Unix has the following going for it. 1. Millions of current users (NT has no users yet) 2. Has been ported to more platforms than DOS or Windows (will NT seek to rival Unix in that regard. If so, how???) 3. Supports a network based windowing system. Will NT? (The Windows API is not designed to work over a network, to my knowledge) 4. In particular, supports X windows. Will NT support X windows? 5. Freeware versions being worked on by quite compentant people. Will NT have freeware versions? The typical criticisms I here about Unix are about things such as cryptic commands and lack of a User Guide. I make those criticisms myself. However, such things are easy to fix. Rarely does one hear more substantive criticism about the OS architecture. There are technical areas where Unix can be criticized, but I have no evidence yet that NT will not have similar weak points. NT, after all, is OT. A prediction. UNIX will not die. If anything, the existence of NT will educate more people about operating systems and cause an increase in the number of systems capable of supporting Unix. This will be a boon for Unix. Furthermore, internetworking between Unix and NT will be a boon for Unix as people make use of the existing mature client/server technologies which have been pioneered on Unix. Dennis Allard allard@isi.edu