[Info-vax] OT: Rob Short: Operating System Evolution

[John Vottero]

"JF Mezei" <jfmezei.spamnot at vaxination.ca> wrote in message 
news:001c305f$0$28514$c3e8da3 at news.astraweb.com...
> Neil Rieck wrote:
>>
>> You are correct about people looking upon technology as a religion. I
>> was once a huge fan of the Apple religion until I watched Apple make a
>> series of product changes which proved to me that Apple management was
>> less involved in the Apple religion than their customers
>
> I would agree with that. Apple simply fosters te religion and then takes
> advantage of the loyalty of its customer base. God (Steve Jobs) rarely
> touches the customers.
>
> However, the Apple religion is about being different, and better quality
> than the other religion.
>
> The Windows religion is about comforming with the rest of the world, it
> is about not being different and doing the same stuff as everyone else.

If Windows was about "not being different", they would have stuck with Java 
instead of inventing the .NET Framework.

>
> You don't see Windows missionaries pushing that Windows is better. Their
> only argument is that it is "compatible" because everyone uses it.
>

That's not what I see.  Everything that I see is about doing something 
better.

One of the things that made OpenVMS great was the OpenVMS Calling Standard 
which enable mixed language development.  This enabled the creation of a 
large set of system services, libraries and utilities which could all be 
written in any language and called from any language.

Microsoft created the Common Language Runtime (CLR) which improved on the 
OpenVMS Calling Standard and extended it to support object oriented 
environments.  This enabled the creation of the .NET Framework which is a 
large collection of services, libraries and utilities (and it's growing 
fast!).

Look at PowerShell, the Microsoft Engineer that created PowerShell is an 
ex-Digit who admits that DCL was one of the inspirations for PowerShell. 
PowerShell is a huge improvement over any other command-line environment.

I work on Windows because it provides a better development environment than 
anything else that I've seen.  If I want to develop an app for the Mac, what 
are my choices?  C++, Java and Hypercard?

> The Windows religion is also not as strong. There is much less

That's because it's logic, not religion.

> convinction in it than in the Apple religion. Windows followers just
> blindly buy Windows because tey feel it is the only option.
>
>
[snip]
>
>> 2) ex-DEC employees at Microsoft did, to the PC industry, what DEC did
>> to the minicomputer industry (made it respectable).
>
> There is a major difference between Microsoft and DEC. Microsoft is a
> marketing driven company with marketing dictating what features need to
> be added. Digital, having no marketing, was more driven by the needs of
> customers and by ideas from its engineers.

You have to have both marketing and product.  The main difference I see 
between DEC and Microsoft is that Microsoft is willing to address their own 
weaknesses.  Microsoft has (and does) put huge amounts of effort into 
improving the security of their products.  DEC wouldn't even admit that they 
had a marketing problem.


John Vottero