From owner-freebsd-chat Sat Aug 23 17:31:00 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id RAA24211 for chat-outgoing; Sat, 23 Aug 1997 17:31:00 -0700 (PDT) Received: from nico.telstra.net (nico.telstra.net [139.130.204.16]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with SMTP id RAA24206 for ; Sat, 23 Aug 1997 17:30:57 -0700 (PDT) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by nico.telstra.net (8.6.10/8.6.10) with ESMTP id KAA07845; Sun, 24 Aug 1997 10:30:22 +1000 Received: (grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.8.7/8.6.12) id KAA05560; Sun, 24 Aug 1997 10:00:19 +0930 (CST) Message-ID: <19970824100019.40411@lemis.com> Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 10:00:19 +0930 From: Greg Lehey To: Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Rumors of the death of Unix have been greatly exaggerated... References: <199708212212.QAA21565@xmission.xmission.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.81e In-Reply-To: <199708212212.QAA21565@xmission.xmission.com>; from Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC on Thu, Aug 21, 1997 at 04:12:49PM -0600 Organisation: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8250 Fax: +61-8-8388-8250 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Fight-Spam-Now: http://www.cauce.org Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Thu, Aug 21, 1997 at 04:12:49PM -0600, Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC wrote: > This is the first line of an interesting article by Jeff Bliss of > _Computer Reseller News_. JOOI, how reliable a source do you consider CRN to be? > He summarizes the NT and UNIX marketplaces as follows: > > > Revenue UNIX NT > 1996 19B .8B > 1999/2000 37B 6.5B > > Whoa, wait a minute? I thought NT had already killed UNIX? Why is it > that last year UNIX outsold NT sytems by *24 times*? And, even given > the "explosive growth" projected for NT, in 2000 it will still sell > *one sixth" of the UNIX marketplace? Interesting figures. I've seen things like this before. I'd love to believe them, but I have numerous reservations: 1. CRN probably doesn't conduct extensive market research. 2. There could be a good deal of wishful thinking or manipulation attempts in the figures. 2. We don't know how old these figures are. They could be 2 or 3 years old, and have based on wishful thinking etc. then. Still, they're interesting. I wonder how distorted they could be. > Not to mention all the UNIX systems (our dearly beloved FreeBSD, Linux, > NetBSD, etc) that don't contribute money, but do contributed *seats* to > the UNIX world. 5 years ago, most superficial computer users thought that Microsoft was the best thing since sliced bread. Nowadays, I notice significant displeasure with Microsoft even in their own user base, even though NT is indubitably better than DOG. In addition, the desktop market is getting saturated, while other areas, notably telecom, are still growing. I don't see Microsoft getting a good foothold with Telcos, and things like the Mars landing and Deep Blue should also (if people only knew) be good advertisments for UNIX. > NT, I sneer at thee! ;^) The German equivalent of "say no to " is ", nein danke"--No Thanks. With that background, and abbreviated: Microsoft, NT. Greg