Re: [tlug] Unix's 40th Birthday

[Jim Breen <jimbreen@example.com>]

2009/8/21 Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>:
> On 2009-08-20 22:57 +0900 (Thu), Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
>
>> Missing quote: "Unix really *is* the operating system for the
>> Internet: most of the 'switches' that direct your network connections
>> to the computer that has the data you need run Unix."
>
> I'm not buying that one without some evidence. Cisco and the other big
> router vendors have been and still are pretty darn popular, and for
> good reason: they can shovel a lot more packets for a given amount of
> hardware than Unix systems. Keep in mind, it's pretty rare for a Unix
> box to have more than a couple of 10gigE interfaces, whereas a router
> with just that wouldn't even be considered high-end.

I'll drink to that. In general industrial strength boxes such as switches and
routers rarely if ever run real OSs as they get in the way, waste resources
and provide mostly unneeded services. What they need are minimal kernels
providing basic interrupt servicing, time slicing, etc.

As Stephen wrote, it's in the periphery of mail servers, firewalls, and
of course the search engines themselves where ****x  holds court.

> On 2009-08-20 22:43 +0900 (Thu), Sotaro Kobayashi wrote:
>> BBC has reminded me that the same fortune could fall upon the current
>> dinosaurs - MS.
>
> I'd be curious as to why you think so, since Windows did exactly what
> Unix did to get users away from that total control: let you run your
> programs on commodity hardware purchased from one of many vendors, all
> of whom are in cutthroat competition with one another.

I tend to agree. What might get MS in the long run is a paradigm change
in how software and services are provided. The IT industry is very subject
to such paradigm shifts, and almost by definition you can't predict the form
they will take.

Cheers

Jim

-- 
Jim Breen
Adjunct Snr Research Fellow, Clayton School of IT, Monash University
Treasurer: Hawthorn Rowing Club, VCA Secondary School, Japanese Studies Centre
Graduate student: Language Technology Group, University of Melbourne