Date: Fri, 26 Jun 1998 12:47:14 -0700 (PDT) From: Tim Gerchmez <fewtch@serv.net> To: Rick Hamell <hcg@teleport.com> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: How important is "the OS?" Message-ID: <XFMail.980626124714.fewtch@serv.net> In-Reply-To: <Pine.WNT.3.95.980625053413.-104419B-100000@greymouser.circle-path.org>
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On 25-Jun-98 Rick Hamell wrote:
> Good points Tim, but I think it important to point out that
> without Microsoft we wouldn't have as much processing power on our desks.
That's definitely true (and the hardware we have would be far more expensive
as well), but this wasn't caused by Microsoft on purpose, of course. It's
because the bloatware they release requires powerful hardware to run (also, I
have to give some of the credit to the computer game companies as well, not just
MS - computer game development is also responsible to a great extent for
increase in hardware power). I'm glad it was a useful side effect, but I'm
afraid I can't give MS direct credit for it. They didn't go to hardware
manufacturers and ask them to drop their prices, or go to factories and
encourage development of more advanced hardware.
> I think that overall, Unix in general will never be able to
> compete.
I'm assuming you mean as a general desktop platform. If you're talking
servers (especially Internet and *large* company Intranet servers), it's MS OS's
that will never be able to compete (or at least will never "win" the
competition to the extent that they become the majority).
> Windows based platforms just don't have the scalibility to be
> able to efficently run any mission critical applications, Windows, is
> still, and always will be until they do a full rewrite from the ground up
> of the entire core OS, a 16 bit application, running in a 32 bit world.
Which Windows? Win NT is 32-bit from the ground up. Win95 still includes some
16-bit components, but the majority (>50%) of it is 32-bit (the OSR2 release
of Win95 increased this percentage by a certain amount as well). If you're
really interested in knowing the truth about Windows in this area, read Andrew
Schulman(sp?)'s books ("Undocumented Win95 secrets" and others).
> Almost all Unix systems from the start were meant to be 32 bit.
Not before 32-bit microprocessors appeared :-) (at least not on the Wintel
platforms).
> You did a good job Tim, and I agree with you to a certain extent.
> But I just don't think Unix in general will ever die down.
No, but it could be driven further and further into a small vertical niche,
until it's so caught between the vice of Microsoft's OS's that only
hobbyists and a few ISP's still use it.
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E-Mail: Tim Gerchmez <fewtch@serv.net>
Date: 26-Jun-98
Time: 12:31:31
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