8 Mar
1999
8 Mar
'99
9:39 a.m.
At the risk of going WAY off topic, since no classic machine can run it, I've
been looking at the BeOS as a replacement for win95 once my thesis (and
thereby my dependance on winblows95) is over with. If they can get some
momentum built up (as well as windows API support) I think they're going to
be the next big thing OSwise. Not free, but competatively priced and MUCH
better from what I've seen.
Realistically I think that if the government makes good and chops Microsoft up
(please, oh please) the OS department will wither and die because their products
are so bad. Except in the corporate world, where NT will still limp along for
a while.
geeks will run Linux or BeOS on PCs because the platform will continue to be
less expensive, but the real consumer and small business worlds will be owned
by Macintosh. Between Macos X for servers and Macos 8.whatever for desktop
clients, IMHO if apple plays their cards right they can own those two VERY
lucrative markets.
Also, so long as I'm predicting the future... :) I'm going to predict that
as SGI comes to the limits of the MIPS archetecture, they're going to look
around for a BSDish UNIX/RISC platform with PCI and fast processing as well as
fast I/O to things like scanners and cameras in which to stick their custom
godly graphics electronics and software. That platform will be the G3 powermac
running MacOS X. I expect there to be some agreement between the two of them
within the next couple years, ranging from contracting each other to a merger.
Of course, there are a few big IFs in there. Apple has been known to throw
away industry leadership before, and it's still remotely possible the
government case against Microsoft will fail, but these are my predictions
and I'm sticking with them. :) I also expect that, once liberated from their
own wretched operating systems groups, the Microsoft applications side will
still be very much the 600lb gorilla of the software world. My understanding
is that works for MacOS is far and away superior to works for windows, so
obviously they CAN write good apps in non MS OSs.
Arfon wrote:
--
Jim Strickland
jim(a)DIESPAMMERSCUMcalico.litterbox.com
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Vote Meadocrat! Bill and Opus in 2000 - Who ELSE is there?
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The vast majority of computer users (now and in
the future) are idiots who
don't care to learn anything other that 'click on this little picture to
make it go'.
You'll get no argument from me here.
Linux will do some damage in the server market
and other places where you
have to have someone with some computer smarts but, most corporate purse
strings are again controlled by those same 'click-idiots'.
A lot of corporations are switching to Linux for servers. Are you saying
that the server purchases are controlled by different purse strings than
the desktop machines, or are you saying that even 'click-idiots' realize
that Linux is better for servers?
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.
Aside from being based on CP/M (which is actually in most regards even a more
feeble excuse for an operating system than MS-DOS), how is what you're
proposing any different than Linux with Gnome (or KDE)?
Why do you think CP/M is a better base than Linux?
I actually *like* CP/M, for what it was designed and intended for.
I just think that trying to add bags on the side in an attempt to turn it
into a "real system" will only result in a nasty kludge with lots of bags
on the side. After all, that's exactly how the Microsoft stuff got to
where it is today. So if GNU started today on a project like you're
proposing, in 18 years we would have GNU Windows, which would be every
bit as crufty and unreliable as MS Windows NT and 98 are now.
On the other hand, by improving the Linux installation process, the Gnome
or KDE desktops, and adding support for more hardware, the Linux user
experience can be made just as compelling as Windows is now.
Eric