[ncolug] Re: Minix3
- From: David Fierbaugh <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ncolug@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 12:15:52 -0500
On Tuesday 08 November 2005 08:37, Henry Keultjes wrote:
> Chuck Stickelman wrote:
> > Now, does Minix have a micro-kernel? Yep. Does that count as "Minix
> > derived concepts"? Maybe. I'm not sure who had the microkernel
> > first... HURD or Minix?
>
> To the best of my knowledge, HURD is based on Mach that was developed at
> Carnegie Mellon.
>
> > Linux is a great solution (sure it's not "the best" solution) but it
> > has traction that NO other OS has TODAY. None. That tells me that
> > it's much more likely to be around in 10 years than some no-traction,
> > curiosity.
>
> What kind of traction did Microsoft have in the late 70's? One of
> Microsoft's great feats has been its ability to adapt, to go with the
> trends and consequently Microsoft's *desires* for Longhorn are more to
> being an Oracle than a Linux.
>
Until recently, microsoft has not been going _with_ trends, they have been
telling everyone else what the trends were.
"Linux" software companies are not usually based on selling a product. They
are usually based on distributing a product for a relatively low fee, and
then selling services (yes there are exceptions here.)
> The great strength of Linux is, of course, its diversity but that also
> means that all those hackers are likely to continue pulling that Linux
> cart off the course that companies like Google are going.
>
Let them pull. They can go any direction they want, and it's not going to
affect the direction Google or any other company is pulling Linux in. How
could it?
Let them fork any project they want to and change the direction it's going in,
the project can still march on however it wants. And of course, if someone
doesn't like it, they can just fork, and then someone else can fork off of
that, etc, etc....
There is no "Course" that Linux is following. There is no next release goal.
There's no need for the Linux community to have a goal like MS's Longhorn to
shoot for. Each individual project may have goals and timelines, but figuring
out the Linux community's course would be like asking what the course is for
Mansfield, but not referring to the city, referring to all the individuals,
businesses, etc that make up Mansfield. Is there _A_ course that defines
that? Could there be?
So what if someone in Mansfield doesn't agree with a Mansfield companies
business goals or plans. Why should that bother anyone or change the
businesses direction?
Let them go in different directions, it's not that they're allowed to go their
own way, it's that they're SUPPOSED to go their own way.
> Then there is the issue of chips. Here again Microsoft has already
> diverted from the X86/64 course with the XBox. If anyone believes that
> Microsoft is making a multi-billion investment in the billions just to
> win the game box market, do some research.
>
It's a good thing MS is diverting, hopefully they'll get into the PPC
architecture enough to drive the cost down. Linux has already diverted from
the X86/64 course to the XBox, and the ARM, the IXP42x series, etc, etc, etc.
I'm not sure if there actually is a concise list of everything Linux will run
on now.
> The fundamental concept of IT is changing very rapidly from information
> stored on a HDD in a box on or next to your desk to info being pulled
> from the web as needed. Optimizing that process requires fundamental
> changes that, because of their huge investment in the legacy PC
> concept, neither Intel nor Linux seem willing to make but Minix3 *and*
> .Microsoft as well as Google seem prepared to change course.
>
What's Microsoft done to that effect? If you mean their MS Live site or
whatever they're calling it, it's just a dynamic web portal, much like what
AOL, yahoo, and many others offer. You simply add content from the MS
approved list (haven't seen any non-MS provided plugins for this yet, but I)
to the site and that becomes "your home page". It's essentially an RSS feed
aggregator webpage.
Why would I want to browse to MS's site to do that, when I have the same thing
in KDE Kontact on my Summary page along side my todo's, schedule, email, etc.
And of course I also automatically get the latest Gentoo security and update
info to a kicker applet rather than having to go on line and look at it.
Of course, MS could go so far as to move the desktop to the web. Wouldn't that
be great, to be able to use an office product via the web without installing
it on your PC. I'm surprised MS hasn't thought of that new idea yet, except
it's not new, there are several FOSS projects that do just that.
But actually moving the entire desktop, would that be a groundbreaking move
for MS? Not at all. There's been a lot of discussion here about NX recently,
I posted a site that offers FREE KDE logins via the web. You start the client
(on a MAC, Linux box, Windows box, doesn't matter) and wallah, you have your
own KDE desktop, available anywhere the web goes.
The Linux/FOSS community has done AMAZING amounts towards moving towards a
net-centric environment. Web pages as desktops, Java based desktops, network
file systems galore (gmail as a file system!), streaming media wallpaper,
applets for more things than I can imagine, the lists go on and on.
It's reached the point where Linux may still be playing catch-up on the
idiot-proof ease of use issues, but MS Windows is definitely playing catch up
on the next generation features. Just look at SVG, file thumbnails,
transparency, internet-desktop integration.... I'm not anxiously awaiting
MS's next release of windows, it's going to look a lot like KDE 3.3. I'm
anxiously awaiting upgrading from KDE 3.5 to KDE 4.0!
-- David
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