[Info-vax] OT: Elephants Can't Dance

[DaveG]

On Mar 23, 7:58 am, billg... at cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) wrote:
> In article <49c6e55f$0$90276$14726... at news.sunsite.dk>,
>         Arne Vajhøj <a... at vajhoej.dk> writes:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> >> In article <49b71a37$0$90263$14726... at news.sunsite.dk>,
> >>        Arne Vajhøj <a... at vajhoej.dk> writes:
> >>> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> >>>> In article <49b5d07b$0$90267$14726... at news.sunsite.dk>,
> >>>>        Arne Vajhøj <a... at vajhoej.dk> writes:
> >>>>>                                     - there are plenty
> >>>>> of open source operating systems out there,    
> >>>> Name one serious OS that is open source that is not just another flavor
> >>>> of Unix.
> >>> I can not think of any.
>
> >> So then, there really aren't "plenty of open source operating systems
> >> out there", are there.  Just one really.
>
> > No.
>
> > Unix and Unix-like operating systems is not one operating system.
>
> For all intents and purposes, yes, they are.  All of them but two trace
> their origins back to real Unix (but not being willing to pony up the
> money for certification can not claim that name)  the other two had as
> one of their primary driving elements to be as close to Unix as possible
> without invoking the wrath of AT&T.  Any major differences in functionality
> can be traced to accident or the implementors lack of ability.
>
>
>
> >>> But what so. Unix roots does not seem to scare away users.
>
> >> Why should it?  Contrary to the warped vision of the IT industry found
> >> here, there really is nothing wrong with Unix.  It has survived and moved
> >> forward quite nicely over the last 3 decades while many of its competitors
> >> fell by the wayside.
>
> > Surprisingly - yes.
>
> Why "Surprisingly"?  Or are you one of those people who think there was no
> design in Unix and it was just something a couple of hackers thrrew together
> in a back room?  People (especially here) seem to forget that Unix had real
> users from the very beginning.  Ritchie & Co. had to share the original
> PDP-11 they developed Unix on with people doing real work while they were
> doing that development.
>
> bill
>
> --
> Bill Gunshannon          |  de-moc-ra-cy (di mok' ra see) n.  Three wolves
> billg... at cs.scranton.edu |  and a sheep voting on what's for dinner.
> University of Scranton   |
> Scranton, Pennsylvania   |         #include <std.disclaimer.h>  - Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I've read that K&R (mostly R) threw together what were the origins of
UNIX as a lab experiment used as a game loader at first.  Many other
things happened later, but its roots are, to say the least,
interesting.

I don 't know how much fact there is in the above, I wasn't there when
it was happening.  I suspect no one else here was either.  Nor am I
suggesting the mine's bigger than your's OS battles, that seem endless
here and elsewhere.