[Info-vax] RMS intro

[Lawrence D'Oliveiro]

On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 23:16:45 -0000 (UTC), Dan Cross wrote:

> In article <un1uj4$2raer$1 at dont-email.me>,
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro  <ldo at nz.invalid> wrote:
>
>>On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 20:56:56 -0000 (UTC), Dan Cross wrote:
>>
>>> In article <un1s48$2r0sq$1 at dont-email.me>,
>>> Lawrence D'Oliveiro  <ldo at nz.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>>On Tue, 2 Jan 2024 19:41:21 -0000 (UTC), Dan Cross wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Furthermore, the rate of change in Linux is high; following along 
from
>>>>> outside is fraught.
>>>>
>>>>Strange, isn't it: Microsoft must have access to at least a couple of
>>>>orders of magnitude greater development resources than that available 
to
>>>>the Linux kernel project,
>>> 
>>> Almost certainly the inverse is true.
>>
>>Yet you yourself have already admitted the opposite.
> 
> I don't believe I have.  Perhaps you could tell me where you
> think I did?

Where you used the word “fraught”.

>>else why can’t they figure out how to get 
>>select(2)/poll(2) working with pipes <https://docs.python.org/3/library/
>>select.html>?
> 
> Probably because they started out with a very different system
> architecture and din't care about implementing Unix interfaces
> at the time, and now have to retrofit it onto a very large
> existing codebase and that's kind of a niche use case.

That “niche” is the reason why they have had to resort to WSL2, to bring 
Linux-type APIs to Windows. And why do they need Linux-type APIs on 
Windows, anyway? Because that’s what the developers are increasingly 
relying on. Why didn’t WSL1 work? Because the Windows kernel wasn’t up to 
it.

> When you write that about select/poll and pipes and that being
> an "irritating reason" for a more general issue, that seems
> specious.

Maybe you don’t realize how important Python has become in the computing 
world lately, with its applications in data science and other areas. 
Microsoft is even planning to offer Python access to Excel users (at least 
cloud-based ones).

And it’s not just Python, of course: Windows limitations affect cross-
platform development across the board. To the point where Microsoft has to 
do something to stem the tide of developers simply giving up on the 
Windows platform. Hence WSL. Which is essentially a bag duct-taped on the 
side of Windows.

Remember why Microsoft needs WSL, clunky as it is: it’s not something it 
bestowed as a special favour on the Linux or open-source world or anything 
like that: it created it because it had to, for sheer business survival.