[retrochallenge] Qualifying operating systems ...
- From: "Byron Q. Desnoyers Winmill" <byron@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: retrochallenge@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 25 Mar 2005 17:19:41 -0500
I'm popping this onto the mailing list so that others can comment
on it if they wish.
On Fri, Mar 25, 2005 at 02:40:12PM -0600, Goodwin, Greg P. wrote:
> "Likewise, to the exclusion of the operating system, any software
> qualifies. This should give you the freedom to explore all of the
> creative options available for your machine, get it online, and even
> develop new software for our legacy hardware. There is only one
> exception to the operating system rule itself: you are allowed to apply
> service packs and bug fixes which are normally provided free-of-charge
> from the system vendor, provided that there isn't a change in the major
> version number."
>
> So what this is saying is, ALL bug fixes and revisions to Win 3.1
> could be used if they were from the vendor and all.
>
> You could use all Apple created updates to System 7.5, but
> couldn't use 7.6. Is that the basic idea here?
Exactly. After your comments with regard to System 7.5 I got to
thinking, some people would be "stuck" using something which is
generally acknowledged to be a buggy OS. While 7.5.5 doesn't fix
all of those bugs, it does go a good part of the way.
This left three options:
(1) Don't modify the rule. If somebody wants to use a less buggy
version of the OS, they would simply be forced to use an older
version (and there is nothing wrong with that!).
(2) Abolish the OS rule altogether, which you seem to be advocating
(ie. make it a hardware only challenge). This does have some
merit, but I'm still concerned that someone running NetBSD 2.0
(or another current OS) would waterdown the competition in the
minds of some people -- including my own!
(3) Find another definition, one which would allow more recent
operating systems without allowing current operating systems.
In effect, I selected option 3. I selected the given rule for
various reasons, but the big one is that it would best maintain
the status-quo.
Please note that I have very little interest in Mac OS 7.5.5 in
particular. System 7.1 is my favoured OS. :-)
Would anyone else like to comment on this? I understand that
removing the OS restriction would make life easier for everyone,
particularly for Amiga OS users where 3.5 and 3.9 come with a TCP/IP
stack, and I don't think 3.1 does.
Byron.
Other related posts:
- » [retrochallenge] Qualifying operating systems ...
