Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Alpha release Linux/GNU/X unix clone on CDROM for PCs From: rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) Date: Sat, 28 Nov 1992 00:52:56 GMT
In article <1992Nov26.214008.7523@sfu.ca> rchen@fraser.sfu.ca (Robert Chen) writes:
>In article <1f1epbINNekq@smurf.sti.com> westes@smurf.sti.com (Will Estes) writes:
>
>>This is a bit embarrassing to have to point out, but did you realize
>>that Microsoft is selling Windows/NT on CD-ROM for $69? I mean, is
>>Microsoft's proprietary 32-bit operating system even more free than free GNU
>>UNIX? :)
>>
>
>Ha ha ha ha ha! Sorry, but that is very humorous. Do you honestly
>thing that /when/ NT is released you will have a development system or
>networking? If you think you are going to get either for $69, you
>have been talking to different people at MS than me. Try >$600 for a
>development system just for starters. I will bet that "NT for
>workgroups" will be price comparable to Novel. And we won't even begin to talk
>about source licenses (if they even grant any).
>
>Personally, I think $99 is WAY UNDER PRICED. I find Linux to be very
>comparable at this point to SCO ODT, which sets you back >$2000 for a
>multiuser copy. Saying that $99 is overpriced for a complete X
>window/C++ development platform is the silliest thing I have heard in
>a long time.
Well, I don't think you'll see anyone getting source for NT.
I have seen a comment from SGI, which will sell NT on their bottom of
the line model, that stated that NT was unsuitable for high end systems
due to the inability of NT to be configured to system load, etc. This
seems to imply that SGI doesn't see NT source, either.
Linux has reached a state where it is nice and fast, has networking and
X11, and the kernel is still at a reasonable size. It doesn't have shared
memory, message passing, and semaphores. It doesn't conform to the Intel
binary standard shared by SVR3, SVR4, Coherent, and others.
In a professional/business environment it can't run the commercial shrink
wrapped apps that are available.
--Rick Kelly rmk@rmkhome.UUCP unixland!rmkhome!rmk rmk@frog.UUCP