In some mail from Bryan Wilkerson, sie said:
>
> >"...open systems means choice. Software systems that run on many different
> >kinds of machines give the user a wide choice of hardware platforms and
> >the choice of hardwarebecomes much less important than with older
> >technologies..." Brian Maskell Associates Inc.
>
> Pardon me for interjecting here. But aren't most versions of Unix
> proprietary? Xenix, Ultrix, AIX (among others) all only run on 1 manufacturer's
> computers and that happens to be the same manufacturer that makes the O/S.
> And exactly how usable is an "open system" if it requires the owner to write his/her
> own hardware drivers or tweak the source to make it run in my "only slightly
> different version" of an "open" OS? This is part of the reason why NT and
> Novell chip away at Unix market share on a daily basis. BTW: couldn't you
> find someone better to quote than a manufacturing process consultant.
Unix vendors provide "flavoured" Unix. A large part of Unix is standard,
which is why software that compiles on Solaris will also compile on HP-UX.
There are "isms" to each but generally speaking, those "isms" reflect the
different hardware and kernel design implemented.
I would also like to introduce to you a Unix called "Solaris". It runs on
PC's, including machines such as the Compaq Proliant 2500 (well it is in the
hardware list :). Then you've got another one called "NetBSD" which is
arguably the most ported version of Unix available today (although it is
missing driver support for things like the 2500). You can also get the
source code for NetBSD for free (Solaris was on offer for US$100 to
educational institutions).
Comopare that with NT. Microsoft are dropping platforms which it runs on
(PowerPC and MIPS). I can't understand why they'd want to drop PPC except
that it isn't made by Intel.
To give you some idea of how anti-"Open"-anything Micro$haft are, they're
refusing to ship Java unless Sun ship NT for sparc as well as removing Java
applets from their WWW server. Maybe people are starting to realise Bill
has lost the plot and hence the drop in the share prices on the share
market.
Darren
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