Date: Wed, 8 Oct 1997 08:00:20 -0400 (EDT) From: Peter Dufault <dufault@hda.com> To: mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith) Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Digital, Intel, Silicon Graphics (fwd) Message-ID: <199710081200.IAA17975@hda.hda.com> In-Reply-To: <199710081200.VAA04024@word.smith.net.au> from Mike Smith at "Oct 8, 97 09:30:25 pm"
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> If he really does his research, why isn't he qualifying the fact that > it's very hard to determine the accuracy of some of the numbers he's > quoting? How come there's no qualification of the numbers for the Unix > systems, eg. number of licenses shipped or number of new boxes shipped? 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". > Workstation hardware generally has a lifetime 2 or 3 times that of PC > hardware (being conservative); it's not uncommon for a single system to > wear 4 or more OS releases, wheras with a Wintel system you're normally > changing hardware faster than you are software. > > It's also little short of ludicrous to cross-compare "Wintel" as a whole > against the workstation market; somewhat like comparing the market for > ballpoint pens against that for fountain pens. Ballpoints rule the > earth by volume, but I still have no trouble sourcing fountain pens and > they show no sign of becoming less popular. Bring your own fountain pen. Company standardization on ball point pens is not the same as company standardization on WNT. I think "ludicrous" is the wrong word. Maybe "inadequate" or "distressing". The fact is that WNT will ship more than Unix if it hasn't already, I was just surprised that it had happened. 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. 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. 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. Peter -- Peter Dufault (dufault@hda.com) Realtime development, Machine control, HD Associates, Inc. Safety critical systems, Agency approval
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