Date: Mon, 22 Nov 1999 20:29:02 -0800 From: "Freddie Cash" <fcash@bigfoot.com> To: tlambert@primenet.com Cc: chat@freebsd.org, davids@webmaster.com (David Schwartz) Subject: Re: Judge: "Gates Was Main Culprit" Message-ID: <199911230427.UAA10452@ocis.ocis.net> In-Reply-To: <199911230105.SAA03973@usr02.primenet.com> References: <000101bf354a$038b0e00$021d85d1@youwant.to> from "David Schwartz" at Nov 22, 99 04:30:59 pm
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[snip] > > > The answer is that, so long as there is an ISA bus in my machine, > > > I will be paying for it. > > Bullshit. This is a clear case of why we don't get locked in. > I don't understand this statement; when I buy a PC, do I not pay > for the ISA card edge connectors and copper cladding on the PC > board, as well as the resin that makes up the board? > If you can tell me how I can aboid that (point me to a vendor of > competitively priced machines which omit the bus, please!), then > let me know. I'm not sure what you call "competitively priced" but in the November 1999 issue of Maximum PC Magazine, there are reviews of two machince without ISA slots. However, it still has PS/2, serial, and parallel ports, so the ISA *bus* is still there. The machines are: Micron Millenia 600 133: 6 PCI/0 ISA $2360 $2990 w/monitor Dell Dimension XPS B600: 5PCI/1 AGP/ 0 ISA $2745 (prices in US$) [snip] > > Huh? Who is locked in? Motherboard manufacturers? No, they aren't > > locked in, the choose to add these slots because they believe the > > value of the compatability outweighs the cost of compatability. > > As soon as those balances change, they'll drop ISA slots. > I don't believe this, but even if I did, how does that save > me, as an OS vendor, from having to support ISA? This is a chicken-egg circle. The OS will stop supporting it when manufacturers stop building it. Manufacturers will stop building it when the OS no longer supports it. Fortunately, finally, some manufacturers are taking the *first* steps to removing ISA from our machines. Still a *long* way to go though. Freddie To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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