From: Massimiliano Mirra <list@...>
Date: 2002-03-21T08:05:16+09:00
Subject: Re: Is there anything left but *nix and Windows?

On Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 06:20:02AM +0900, Chris Gehlker wrote:
> Which made we wonder if non-*nix is just another work for Windows. It seems
> like in the distant past, DEC had VMS, IBM and Data General had their own
> non-*nix OSes, and there was something called CPM for PCs.
> 
> But now BeOS is gone and I look around for where Ruby runs and it seems that
> it comes down to Windows and *nix. I suppose  it might run on Palm Desktop
> or something but, If so, the PickAxe Book doesn't mention it.

Yes, when I said non-*nix I was thinking mswin32 and Mac, though in
that case it had more to do with what platforms concern Ruby users
rather than what platforms concern the market.

I am optimistic in my own way and will say that the fall of many OSes
is not to ascribe only to m$ practices.  Why this is optimistic to me
I'll tell later.

I had been a happy Amiga user for a long time, until it started to
stagnate and there were no more tools to get work done, or the
hardware costed too much.  The real fall happened before the bulk of
m$ ``marketing'' or independent of it anyway, and had to do with bad
management.  Well, now?  There was a lot of rumor months ago about the
new ``Amigas'', actually no longer a hardware platform but an OS
running on a virtual processor by Tao.  Great concepts, a lot of
potential if well pursued and developed... yet too many people are
tired of waiting and hoping that the software houses will give them
what they want, they are tired of being dogs in front of a bowl.

I remember this distinctly because in the very days these news were
out I was deciding whether to install Linux: ``let's even assume that
these crazy guys at Amiga Inc. do what they propose and have an
incredible success: what will we get in the end if not another m$?''

Some months later, I learnt about BeOS.  ``Cool,'' I thought, ``I
shall try that.''  But the post that brought it to my attention also
referred to the fact that there was a petition asking Be Inc. to
release the source code.  So it was closed?  Well, that was enough to
drop below zero my already faint expectations of ever doing any
serious work on it.  The OS is the ecosystem where what I create, be
it code or data, lives.  Am I going to create something where not I,
but someone else will decide if it can breathe or not?  ``I'll give
BeOS a try, someday...'' I never did.

So you see, I did not encourage BeOS and neither I did encourage
AmigaDE, not because I was under the influence of wicked FUDing from
some big evil corporation, but just because I was fed up with a
certain model.

Is this the primary factor for the fall of many OSes?  Most probably
not.  Is this a significant factor?  That's a matter of opinion.  My
optimistic opinion is that it is.

Massimiliano