OT -mostly -

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Sat Jun 19 14:21:37 1999

At 10:53 AM 6/19/99 +0000, Pete wrote:
>Hmm... sometimes. The Sun C compiler was dropped because it wasn't up to
>scratch; gcc outperformed it easily.

Hmm, I've stayed out of this conversation for now, but Pete is mistaken. I
participate (as much as anyone could) in the decision to drop the C
compiler from SunOS as part of the "BWOS" (acronym for Big Wad Of Stuff). I
argued to keep it, marketing argued to drop it, the argument went like this:
        Engineering: Hey, its not the best C compiler but at least you can
                start programming right out of the box.
        Marketing: If we don't bundle the C compiler we can sell Sun's C
                compiler tools.
        Scott McNealy: Yeah, I want three divisions, the hardware guys, the
                os guys, and the products guys. This would help the
                products guys.

Basically you could either view it as a competition inspiring move or a
price increase in the base system (since the C compiler was now extra cost)

It did raise quite a bit of money for Sun but GCC pretty much wiped out the
marginal dollars and the people who buy it now are corporate types and the
hackers have pretty much abandoned the platform.

--Chuck
Received on Sat Jun 19 1999 - 14:21:37 BST