Re: [ba-ohs-talk] Fwd: Linux at Sun: The Big Push
Eric Armstrong wrote: (01)
> Sight unseen, I have to agree with your assessment. Only lack of
> space and time keep me from getting one.
>
> The combination of a great GUI that learned a few lessons from
> Windows, a great object-oriented programming api that learned a
> few lessons from NeXT, and a great scripting-shell that learned
> a few lessons from Unix, all add up to a developer's dream. (02)
Well, not entirely, unless the developers' tools available on OS X
or BSD compete with those on Solaris, Windows, or linux. I've not
seen that they do, and I'm not interested in developing solely for
OS X. (03)
> The only thing I didn't like was the inability to set up tcsh as the
> default shell. Can you confirm or deny that?
>
> Jack Park wrote:
>>FYI...
>>Playing with OS X on my son's G4 Mac suggests to me that Apple might be
>>sitting on a great OS. Unix inside a proven interface. If they were to
>>move OS X to Intel boxes, as Cringley suggested (my earlier forward), then
>>I wonder how Linux and Solaris would fare...
>>
>>Cheers
>>Jack (04)
I don't think Linux or Solaris have much to fear from OS X, as it
isn't in competition with them. I'd fear for KDE, Gnome, or the
other linux desktop environments. There's every bit as strong a
need for that unix/linux underpinning with OS X, and its extremely
unlikely that BSD will overtake linux or Solaris in a head-to-head
competition. (05)
What I've really wanted to see (and am somewhat surprised that it
hasn't already happened) is that Apple would move from BSD to linux. (06)
Then they'd have a GUI shell that could run over top of any linux (07)
box, and porting would be almost trivial over the various hardware
bases. It's sad really that this hasn't happened. I'd switch in a
minute from Enlightenment (my linux shell) to OS X, assuming the
performance was reasonable. (08)
My understanding of the reasons that this hasn't occurred is that
there are licensing issues on the Mach kernel used to create OS X,
and that Steve Jobs isn't particularly interested in making that
transition. (09)
I'll (hopefully) soon have a new Macintosh iBook laptop, which I
will promptly gut and install a PowerPC version of linux. OS X is
not particularly useful for my style of working, and I want to
have access to the voluminous linux software base. Also, Java
versions always seem to be a step behind on the Macintosh. (010)
Murray (011)
......................................................................
Murray Altheim <mailto:m.altheim @ open.ac.uk>
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK (012)
In the evening
The rice leaves in the garden
Rustle in the autumn wind
That blows through my reed hut. -- Minamoto no Tsunenobu (013)