Date: Wed, 17 Jul 1996 23:23:41 -0700 From: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com> To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Cc: Matthew Jason White <mwhite+@cmu.edu> Subject: Re: Opinions? Message-ID: <199607180623.XAA09725@MindBender.HeadCandy.com>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
He sent me a followup letter lamenting that he forgot to include the
lists in his response. Being the kind person that I am, I'm
forwarding this on. I had hoped the thread wouldn't continue on
freebsd-current, but unfortunately, it did. So I'm including that
group.
I'll add that I pretty much agree with everything he says.
------- Forwarded Message
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 02:08:36 -0400
From: Matthew Jason White <mwhite+@CMU.EDU>
To: "Michael L. VanLoon -- HeadCandy.com" <michaelv@HeadCandy.com>
Subject: Re: Opinions?
Excerpts from internet.computing.freebsd-current: 17-Jul-96 Re:
Opinions? by M. HeadCandy.com@HeadCan
> There are lots of other related areas where a free Unix, or even a
> commercial Unix, might be the best choice. Maybe some kind of network
> provider. Maybe a heavy-hit monster database server (although
> Microsoft has been getting lots of good press on their database
> performance). Maybe a huge simulation engine. Maybe just a monster
> compute server.
Don't forget research boxes. Most research I know of uses software
running on Unix boxes of some sort. There are a number of reasons for
this ranging from simple tradition to the expressiveness of Unix
compared to other OSes. When you're writing a reference version of a
program, you don't want to be burdened with also writing a GUI for it at
the same time, which NT all but forces you to do (you *can* associate a
console with a program, but this is not the default).
Further, I think it's also safe to assume that Unix will remain a
favorite among hackers everywhere just because it behaves the way we
expect an OS to behave and emphasizes the things that a hacker generally
wants emphasized. There's something about eighteen command pipelines
that appeal to almost every hacker I know. Obscure command lines also
seem aestheticly pleasing at times. So as long as hackers are valued
people in research and industry, Unix will most likely have a secure
home.
I think this is an important thing to consider. As we expand FreeBSD
(and NetBSD and Linux and OpenBSD...), we have to consider who our
audience is and who we want it to be. I personally feel that it's fine
to start to encroach on Win95 and NT territory by developing GUI apps
and admin tools, as long as we don't alienate our history in the process.
Hmmpf...you can tell that it's late 'cause I'm rambling on. I suppose
I'll be happy with FreeBSD as long as I can pull up an xterm to do stuff
in and I never have to prefix a pathname 'c:'.
- -Matt
- -----
Matt White
Email: mwhite+@cmu.edu http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/mwhite/www/
------- End of Forwarded Message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199607180623.XAA09725>