Greg Troutman wrote:
>
> Tim Shoppa wrote:
>
> > Unfortunately, now if you go to a CS department it's rare to see people
> > using anything other than generic Unix boxes. This is a crying shame, as
> > Unix was a pretty poor choice of OS's in 1972 (when it was started) and
> > on today's big computers it's a much, much poorer choice compared to
> > all the OS's developed by advanced research groups in the 70's and 80's.
>
> Yeah, but I think the motivation is that these projects come and go, the
> direction (even objectives) of AI research fluctuates, but the computer
> system has to stay and adapt--it's as if Unix itself has evolved into
> the fittest beast in the jungle, maybe not the strongest or smartest,
> just a capable survivor ;)
An OS that works well in an academic environment is not necessarily
the best for business. Business pays the money. The AI research OS
platforms weren't good at business applications, or if they would have
been there were no application packages written. This does _not_ mean
that it couldn't have been -- hell, Microslough has a really crappy
operating system, but the applications drive the market. Remember
that universities get funded by grants from the governments and
businesses presently using Windoze. I've been a Unix junkie for
fifteen years now, but I don't expect anybody else outside of the
Linux community to give me anything for free.
--
Ward Griffiths
Dylan: How many years must some people exist,
before they're allowed to be free?
WDG3rd: If they "must" exist until they're "allowed",
they'll never be free.
Received on Mon Mar 16 1998 - 23:21:36 GMT