(Fwd) Re: (Fwd) Re: Linux/open software (was Bill Gates write

[Patrick Bond]

My dad -- our family computer wonk -- had this to add to 
the techie-talk...

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
On Fri, 7 Aug 1998, Patrick Bond wrote:
> Does this make sense?

Yes it all makes sense.  However, there were two basic resons why UNIX
never made it to the PC:
	1. In the late 80's, after workstations were recognised as part of
the modern office, for architecture, engineering etc., the various
vendors, especially Sun, HP(who bought Apollo), DEC and SGI were involved
in Standards battles, (also with ATT, IBM and others).  No one thought to
extend the workstation to secretarial and clerical functions, expand the
sales volume and lower the cost.  All these different flavors of UNIX are
still around, all slightly different.  Linux appeared in '93 ( I think I
told you I left a large partition on my new ('96) hard drive to install
Linux, but haven't got around to it).  Thus Unix for the masses didn't get
the low-cost early start it could have, so never made it in the PC, till
Linux (tho there were some early attempts that never went anywhere).  With
Apple's disorganization and loss of focus at the time, the way was clear
for MS Windows and Intel to doominate the desktop. (I decided to leave the
typo uncorrected, since it seems appropriate).
	2. To this day, Unix is a specialized tool; you need to know what
you're doing, to use it.  Nobody ever developed a MAC-style GUI for it.
It's too hard for most people to use.  Also getting it to work across a
broad range of processors, with different mixes of attached peripherals,
often requires a lot of knowledge and experience. 

Love, 

Denis