Date: Sun, 24 Aug 1997 10:00:19 +0930 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC <softweyr@xmission.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Rumors of the death of Unix have been greatly exaggerated... Message-ID: <19970824100019.40411@lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <199708212212.QAA21565@xmission.xmission.com>; from Wes Peters - Softweyr LLC on Thu, Aug 21, 1997 at 04:12:49PM -0600 References: <199708212212.QAA21565@xmission.xmission.com>
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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 <foo>" is "<fu>, nein danke"--No
Thanks. With that background, and abbreviated: Microsoft, NT.
Greg
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