Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 22:49:31 -0600 (MDT) From: Wes Peters <softweyr@xmission.com> To: Peter Dufault <dufault@hda.com> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Digital, Intel, Silicon Graphics (fwd) Message-ID: <199710090449.WAA01811@obie.softweyr.ml.org> In-Reply-To: <199710081200.IAA17975@hda.hda.com> References: <199710081200.VAA04024@word.smith.net.au> <199710081200.IAA17975@hda.hda.com>
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Peter Dufault writes:
> I did everyone a disservice by not providing background, and by
> taking one paragraph and forwarding it. What I noticed was that
> someone who generally knows what he is talking about in an informal
> setting (note - informal) is not considering the internet OS's.
> And it is the same across the board - I may read "Linux" in a New
> York Times article about "hackers" or "computer security experts
> with ponytails", but I'll never see it in a discussion of "Windows
> NT overtakes Unix".
But, sir, his numbers don't jive with the report I forwarded here last
month, from a generally well-respected research firm, that indicated the
*total* UNIX marketplace currently as being something like *40 times*
the size of the *total* NT marketplace. Again, I agree with Mike: he
must *not* have done his research very carefully.
> The fact is that WNT will ship more than Unix if it hasn't already,
> I was just surprised that it had happened.
Don't be surprised when you find out it hasn't happened, and that your
compatriots figures were, shall we say, fictitious. From whence does he
devine the total number of NT sales? I've never seen Microsoft release
those figures. Likewise with Solaris, SCO, HP-UX, AIX, et al.
An article I spotted somewhere this summer suggested that by the end of
1997, Linux will have overtaken MacOS as the second most installed OS in
the world, still staying well ahead of NT, or anything else. Sorry, I
have no idea where this article was, and no attribution for the
figures. It didn't surprise me nearly as much as your posting.
> Gates waved his hand a few days ago and announced that business
> users should now switch to NT, and that home computers should follow
> after W98.
Apparently you didn't notice when he said the same thing in 1995.
Remember? Windows 95 is the operating system for homes, Windows NT is
the operating system for businesses of all sizes. The stated purpose of
the Win95 branding system requiring that your application also run on NT
was to ascertain a large number of 32-bit applications compatible with
NT, even though the vendors were intentionally making Win95
applications. Amazing how little Win developers really know about their
own bread-and-butter.
> I'm not sure how much longer it will be feasible for
> me to decline to take on primarily Windows projects. Unix - the
> Cobol of the next millenium.
Do whatever you have to, just don't expect us to validate your slipping
into the pits of hell. If you can find good UNIX (or UNIX-like embedded
systems) work, you're living in the wrong corner of the world.
> What I wonder is Linux / *BSD nothing but hobbyist low level
> background noise such that it is appropriate that it never show up
> in any analysis in the major media.
Define "major media." MSNBC? The Today Show? Mr. Rogers Neighborhood?
The New York/Los Angeles/Seattle Times? Dr. Dobbs Journal? LAN Times?
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.xmission.com/~softweyr softweyr@xmission.com
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