From: jerry@msi.com (Jerry Shekhel) Subject: Re: NT vs Linux (was: Re: truth or dare) Date: 8 Jul 1993 18:15:19 GMT
Howlin' Bob (gt8134b@prism.gatech.EDU) wrote:
: rgallen@muug.mb.ca (Rennie Allen) writes:
:
: >There is more to quality software than code that will pass through lint
: >without a burp. There is *design*. Linux has no *design* it is simply a
: >clone of what has gone before, it does nothing to advance the state of the
: >art in OS design.
:
Well, maybe it's time to take a break from trying to advance the state
of the art. Maybe instead it's time to try to come up with something truly
useful -- something that pleases its users at least as much as it pleases
the CS community. The things that go into Linux are the things that Unix
users have always wanted to see in their "ideal" system; Linux is not defined
(or limited) by the vision of some monstrous corporate entity, and that's what
has made it the best OS I've used.
:
: Okay, but when some well thought-out system like NT won't run worth
: diddly-squat on my 8MB-RAM 110MB-disk 486/33, and Linux runs like
: a bat out of hell, one tends to wonder just when the benefits of
: all NT's supposed architectural engineering will come in.
:
Couldn't have said it better. IMHO, people who rag on Linux simply
have never used it. I've used Windows, OS/2, SCO OpenDesktop, ISC, and
a couple of vendors' SVR4 at home. I use IRIX, SunOS, AIX, HP-UX, and
OSF/1 every day at work. I've seen NT (we're evaluating it for our products).
I have yet to see anything as compact, speedy, compatible, or stable as
Linux. It is an absolute beauty of an OS.
Here are just a couple of examples. Linux has the best runtime library I've
ever used. Linux has the most complete and the most useful implementation of
the /proc filesystem that I've ever seen. Its file system performance BLOWS
AWAY that of commercial PC Unixes; I still don't understand how "zcat | tar"
can go so much faster on my 486/IDE than it does on the Iris at work. Let's
see, what else... Did I mention Copy-On-Write? How about the fact that Linux
handles multitasking load better than SVR4 on my machine? How about the fact
that SVR4 blew up when I switched to an EISA video card, and Linux kept on
running? I could go on and on. Floppy speed. Serial driver. Intelligent
caching. Lightweight fork(). All of this in a kernel as small as 280KB, and
Rennie says that it's been done before?! I'd really like to know where.