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Date:      Mon, 2 Jul 2001 10:54:38 -0400
From:      Shannon Hendrix <shannon@widomaker.com>
To:        FreeBSD Advocacy <advocacy@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: BSD, .Net comments - any reponse to this reasoning?
Message-ID:  <20010702105437.A17119@widomaker.com>
In-Reply-To: <3B3F9F23.FF02A317@softweyr.com>
References:  <20010630235936.A90173@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <4.3.2.7.2.20010701060843.017bfee8@threespace.com> <3B3F9F23.FF02A317@softweyr.com>

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On Sun, Jul 01, 2001 at 04:07:31PM -0600, Wes Peters wrote:

> BASIC for the PC came LONG after the original BASIC-80, which ran on
> bare machines, CPM, and TRS-DOS.  Microsoft later supplied BASIC
> interpreters for other CPUs, including the 6502 on the Apple ][ and
> later Commodore machines and the 6809 on the Radio Shack Color
> Computer.  I think they wrote the cartridge basic for the TI-99 also,
> but I'm not certain of that.

They also produced a BASIC for the Atari, but it never caught on.

> To do so would have made no sense, since Microsoft didn't yet have a
> platform to lock people onto.  Life was more complicated, and yet so
> much better, in those days.

What is amazing about that time period is just how much code was
often ported from one very different platform to another. At times it
was one far superior platform to another even, or totally different
architectures. And yet today, we hear people talking about how
impossible that is, despite the task being much easier.

One thing though, that was definitely not so much better, was only being
able to use UNIX or VMS over a 300bps telephone line, on my 40-column
vt52 emulator. I don't miss that part.


-- 
UNIX/Perl/C/Pizza__________________________________shannon@widomaker.com

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