Date: Sun, 8 Jun 1997 11:10:00 +0930 (CST) From: Michael Smith <msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au> To: joelh@gnu.ai.mit.edu Cc: msmith@atrad.adelaide.edu.au, michaelv@MindBender.serv.net, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Exchange vs. Notes Message-ID: <199706080140.LAA16645@genesis.atrad.adelaide.edu.au> In-Reply-To: <199706071713.NAA08912@ethanol.gnu.ai.mit.edu> from Joel Ray Holveck at "Jun 7, 97 01:13:53 pm"
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Joel Ray Holveck stands accused of saying: > > > But Exchange is, and seeks to be, something other. Microsoft have > > made no bones about crushing any possible alternatives (you have > > yourself alluded to this), yet refusing any chance of peer review. > > "We are Microsoft. Unix is irrelevant. Notes is irrelevant. > Resistance is futilie. You will be assimilated." That's half of it. The "peer review" gripe is just as significant though. > > Please reread what I wrote. In particular ISV != ISP. The people > > that pay most of my way develop unique data acquisition and control > > software for a wide variety of research applications. We work > > wherever possible with "free" software, because bitter experience has > > shown that the only support that you can truly count on is your own, > > and to a considerable but somewhat lesser degree, that of other > > concerned individuals. The few "non-free" software components we work > > with are continual thorns in our collective backside. > > So what's your view on BSD/I? It has nothing to offer us that isn't available for less, with better support, elsewhere. OTOH, they aren't trying for solo domination of any market, or prohibiting peer review (at least, I believe they still sell source licenses), so I have no call to gripe about them. > Out here in West Texas, trends such as this are difficult to see. Do > you really think that the telcos are going to be able to squelch all > competition in this market? Also, are you referring only to your > dialup ISPs, or are you also talking about your larger ISPs, the ones > that the small dialups connect to? (Yes, I realize that this is > largely Sprint, MCI, and other LD groups, but AlterNet and other > groups still exist.) Large organisations like major telcos take a long time to adapt to any sort of change, but ultimately they are the ones with the capital, the advertising bulk, and the infrastructure required to out-compete everyone else. Don't get me wrong, I don't _like_ the thought, I just think it's inevitable. That's not to say that there's no room for other net-related organisations; there will always be content providers, value-added support organsiations, etc., but the connect-user-to-net service business is going to have to go to the companies that can do it on the smallest unit margin... > joelh -- ]] Mike Smith, Software Engineer msmith@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] Genesis Software genesis@gsoft.com.au [[ ]] High-speed data acquisition and (GSM mobile) 0411-222-496 [[ ]] realtime instrument control. (ph) +61-8-8267-3493 [[ ]] Unix hardware collector. "Where are your PEZ?" The Tick [[
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