[Info-vax] Long uptime cut short by Hurricane Sandy

[David Froble]

Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> In article <kerjg4$u78$2 at dont-email.me>,
> 	David Froble <davef at tsoft-inc.com> writes:
>> Bill Gunshannon wrote:
>>
>>> Based on the popularity of things like the comp.sources.* groups I really
>>> don't think NIH was a problem in the Unix world.
>> Oh, really ????
>>
>> Then why do we have Linux ????
> 
> Don't get me started.....

Apparently I just did ....

> Linux is the product of one child's ego based on a false premise from
> the very beginning.  Or, to quote henry Spencer, "Those who do not learn
> from UNIX are doomed to reinvent it poorly."

The way I read this is that you're taking a stance 180 degrees opposite 
your supposition above, re: NIH not a problem on Unix.

>> Or for that matter, why so many different Unixes ????
> 
> The differences in the various true Unix versions are trivial at best.
> The biggest differences are in the proprietary Unixes where they were
> delibrately introduced in an attempt to differentiate a product, garner
> more sales and lock customers in.  I think it is fairly safe to conclude
> at this point that the real Unixes [Free|Open|Net]BSD are similar to point
> that there is no program written for one that will not compile and run on
> another.  And that they outsnumber the proprietary Unixes in number of
> installed systems.

Trivial or not, there is a duplication of effort, without much of 
anything new or different.

But let's go a bit further.  DECUS.  Not just VAX or VMS, but the entire 
community of DEC users.  Vast library of shared software.  Many people 
using the library instead of re-inventing their wheels.  Yes, including 
Unix software.  I'd suggest that the DECUS library is the opposite of NIH.