[UFO Chicago] Other Free Operating Systems

[Jay F Shachter]

Centuries ago, Nostradamus predicted that Jordan Bettis would write on Tue Mar 24 23:39:44 2009:

> 
> On Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 09:53:30PM -0600, Jay F Shachter wrote:
> > It's been only how many years since the TLI standard came out in
> > System 5 Release 3?  Twenty-three?  
> 
> I completely agree.
> 
> What's more. Linux's support for such venerable standards as X.400,
> NeWS, FTAM, and DAP is woefully lacking. 
> 
> I mean, how on earth are people supposed to learn GUI programming on a
> system that doesn't support NeWS? Until Linux adopts support for such
> essential standards I can't see how it will ever become relevant.
> 
> -- 
> Jordan Bettis -- Chicago Il.
>

Our worthy and esteemed colleague Jordan Bettis is perhaps making a
subtler point than first appears.

NeWS was unquestionably superior to the X windowing system, but it
never surpassed the X windowing system in popularity, because the X
windowing system was adequate, and programmers who were accustomed to
it did not feel a need to learn how to use a better windowing system.

By analogy, Jordan seems to be saying, even though the "sockets"
interface is inferior to TLI for network programming, it shouldn't
matter to us that Linux fails to support TLI adequately, because the
network programmers of the world are mostly happy with "sockets".

Linux users should be most wary of Jordan's argument, however, since,
mutatis mutandis, it can be used in support of you-know-what.

In fact, if there were operating systems out there that still
supported NeWS, Jordan's last paragraph, quoted above, would not be in
the slightest bit ironic.  Now there are, fortunately, operating
systems our there that support TLI, and support it well.  So why
shouldn't we use Solaris 10, rather than Linux?  Jordan doesn't think
that a better network programming interface is a good enough reason to
use one operating system over another, but does anyone have a reason
for preferring Linux to Solaris?  Or to FreeBSD?


			Jay F. Shachter
			6424 N Whipple St
			Chicago IL  60645-4111
				(1-773)7613784
				jay at m5.chicago.il.us
				http://m5.chicago.il.us

			"Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur"