From: "Todd C. Klaus" <klaus@enuxva.eas.asu.edu> Subject: MWC response to UNIXWorld article Date: 20 Feb 1993 02:12:37 -0500
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Hi *,
I got this mail from someone at mwc regarding my Linux article, and I sent
him this response. I thought some might be interested...
tk
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|I read your review of the Linux O/S in the 3-93 Unix World. I must give
|credit to where credit is due, Linux has come a long way in a very short time
|and is an excellent product.
|However, working for the Mark Williams Co, (makers of the COHERENT O/S) I'D
|point out where COHERENT shines through. Though our X11R5 port will not be
|ready until Spring/Summer 93, the O/S as it currently stands is generating
|enormous interest in the 3rd party development field and among reviewers
|in the industry, (see my .sig at the bottom).
After using VAX/VMS and DOS for several years, my first encounter with an
actual UN*X system was Coherent 3.1.0. I had read many things about the
unix environment, and Coherent for $99 was a perfect opportunity. Initial
install failed due to an incompatible boot disk, but technical support was
great and the tech (Steven, English accent ?) promised me a new Perstor P6
boot disk which arrived about a week later that worked perfectly.
Having no prior unix experience, using the manual to learn it was difficult.
A freind of mine also purchased Coherent, and we spent many hours trying to
establish a UUCP connection with no luck. Tech support sent me a few sheets of
additional documentation, but we were never able to get it to work (not
even with the mwcbbs). I work full time and go to school, so I didn't have
alot of time to spend on it, so I set Coherent to the side.
My next exposure to unix was Linux, about a year later. Honeywell CFSG got an
Internet connection, and I saw Linus Torvalds' email address in a friend's .sig
(Mar, 92) and I sent him a message asking about it. I got a response about 24
hours later, pointing me to the ftp site and the mail group. Three days later
(after several frantic posts to the mail group :-), I had Linux accepting
external logins on my home PC. Don't get me wrong, I probably had more
problems with Linux installation than I did originally with Coherent, but the
difference was the comprehensive expertise of the Linux Activists. I had to
coorespond with people from Finland, Germany, France, Canada and the U.S. to
get it all going, but all these people were very eager to help. After several
months I learned not only how to use and program in a unix environment, but also
how kernel internals could be implemented (from studying the excellant Linux
kernel source. I admit that similar Internet access during my installation of
Coherent would probably have made it much easier, but with Linux, I was
fascinated to see so many people, each with a particular area of interest or
specialty implementing standard unix functions under Linux. X11R5 was already
a part of Linux when I got it, only five months after Linus' initial release of
Linux images and source. It has served as an excellant learning experience.
I have noticed that when when people write and port code that will be under
the scrutiny of their peers, they take more pride in the work that will
represent them (with some exceptions, of course). That's one of the reasons I
support free software.
Linux isn't for everone, however, and like you say, Coherent's 3rd party
support is something Linux may never match, but most Linuxers don't use
Linux in a commercial environment. Choosing between Coherent and Linux
depends on what you want to do with it. Coherent offers an great deal
to a business that doesn't want to spend alot of money, but does want
private sector support, or for those who want to plug and play (that's
not to far off for Linux!).
|Some of the advantagous COHERENT has over Linux are; Free support, smaller
|distribution, iBCS2/COFF compliancy, one source for technical support, one
|source for user contributed software (mwcbbs), ease of installation.
In defense of these points, Linux *revolves* around it's free support, the
smallest Linux distribution currently available (what I started with) fits on
2 high-density floppies, there are several sites that maintain the *entirely*
user-contributed source surrounding Linux, and with the estimated readership on
comp.os.linux of over 40,000, you can usually rest assured that any installation
problems you may have has been experienced and solved by someone else.
|Later this year (Spring/Summer??), you'll see X-Windows X11R5, Informix,
|Lotus 1-2-3 and TCP/IP. It should prove to be an exciting time.
I agree. Coherents' support in the commercial market is doing a great job
of helping unix move towards the desktop.
Todd Klaus (A happy Linuxer and long-time lurker of c.o.l :-)