[Info-vax] Anyone interested in another public access system

[Michael Kraemer]

Richard B. Gilbert schrieb:
> Michael Kraemer wrote:
> 
>> yyyc186 schrieb:
>>
>>
>>> The "ratio" has more to do with Unix being free. 
>>
>>
>> commercial Unices aren't free.
>>
> Solaris is a "commercial Unix".  Solaris is free!  You can go to Sun's 
> web site and download it.  Or you can order a DVD media kit.  There may, 
> or may not, be a charge for the DVD depending on the policy of the week.
> The license to use it is free.  Support, if you need it or want it, 
> costs money.  The development tools (Sun Studio) are also free. Support, 
> again, costs money.

ISTR there's a subtle difference between Solaris and OpenSolaris.
HP-UX and AIX aren't free either.
If you buy new hardware, the OS license costs real money,
but includes software support.
However, the license is formally bound to the machine,
which is hobbyist friendly since one only needs to borrow
OS media from somebody else.

> Solaris is also open source.  If you have the time and the necessary 
> programming skills you can hack the code to make it work the way YOU 
> think it should.

I think I have better things to do.
So it ends up with the usual: ... is only free if your time has no value.