Interesting to note about Altairs...

From: Allison J Parent <allisonp_at_world.std.com>
Date: Mon Mar 8 20:44:05 1999

<'click on this little picture to make it go'. Linux will do some damage i
<the server market and other places where you have to have someone with som
<computer smarts but, most corporate purse strings are again controlled by
<those same 'click-idiots'.

Not, will do. It is one of the significant players in the server market
and growing. In that market teh cost of ownership and the ability to find
people that know it and can grow it are big pluses.

<I really wish GNU would take a good command line OS (like CP/M), make it
<32/64 bit, and multi-tasking/user and add a GUI and try and compete with
<Winblows.

I'm a CP/m advocate but that really doesn't fly. First there are CP/M
emulators for Linux already. The other is CP/M was never a prime time
candidate for a GUI thing being totally single user and single tasking,
the later CCPM may have had a shot.

To keep closer to topic. Those that forget CP/M and what it was will
forever repeat it's errors. It was good, is good and limited. The lack
of heirachal directories is a serious limitation for modern software
another is the size of disk and files (8mb in 2.2, 3.0 got it to 32mb).
The single thread and single task problem would have to be dealt with
as well. Then all the apps one would want would have to be ported from
Z80 or worse 8088.

There are people trying to do windows like/compatable interfaces but
hitting the MS APIs is like shooting at a moving target. Besides
Linux/unix has xwindows. What's missing is applications that appeal to
those that already know windows. On the desktop no one cares what the
OS is so long as the application they want/need runs under it.

Allison
Received on Mon Mar 08 1999 - 20:44:05 GMT