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List:       suse-linux-uk-schools
Subject:    Re: [suse-linux-uk-schools] Linux recycled Unix ?
From:       John Newell <johnn () zuken ! co ! uk>
Date:       2001-02-09 11:36:26
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Hi,

The most significant thing about this "war" is the marketing.  If HP and
Sun et al could have afforded to develop, into the SOHO or SME market
place, an affordable solution would they?

The parallel with the computer aided design market is interesting. 
Autocadd was seen as an insignificant product and bellow the radar of
heavy duty CAD developers - that was years ago and now AutoCadd is the
defacto standard that almost every other CAD package is compared to.  It
is not the "best" but how do we define best??

Microsoft has revolutionized the home computing and commercial computing
desktops.  All credit to them.  Unix is still one of the "best"
solutions available for commercial organizations - despite the Micro$oft
marketing and technical advancements in W2K and has stood the test of
time to evolve into one of the most stable and dependable environments
around.

So what about Linux???
Linux is not Solaris or HPUX - if anyone has tried these commercial
UNIXs then they will know how much effort has gone into making the
interface of Linux more productive (easier to use).  It is getting
better and better and innovative not recycled.
We can get all starry-eyed about Linux (and I have), and I guess we take
a career risk when we go out on a limb.  The market will decide if Linux
stands up to the demands of the market place.  Is there more to this
market than mere money?  Yes and No.  A commercial organization exists
to provide benefit to it's investors.  More than money alone? I hope so
or am I just an idealist??

>From an education point of view I guess there is no defacto solution to
all our needs but the beauty of this "open" environment is that it has
put the computer back into the hands of the curious for a small
financial outlay.

Just the ramblings of a deranged keyboard.  I don't want to get into the
Linux is better than windows discussion (again) but I do feel better for
getting that off my chest.



John Newell


Malcolm Herbert wrote:
> 
> hi
> 
> any comments on this quote today ?
> 
> > Customers, he said, misunderstood what Linux was, thinking that it
> > was brand new technology rather than just recycled Unix. "We're not
> > changing the rules of physics in the universe here" and that the
> > best Linux can offer is "better technology for the same money."
> > There is, he said, "a wake-up call" sounding "for many.
> 
> Malcolm
> --
> ---------------------------------------
> Dr Malcolm Herbert
> Director, Academic Business Development
> Red Hat Europe
> t: +44 1483 734955 m: +44 7720 079845
> --------------------------------------
> "To err is human, but to really foul
>  things up you need a computer"
>         Farmers Weekly, 1977

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