Return to BSD News archive
Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.uoknor.edu!news.nodak.edu!netnews1.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!uw-beaver!uhog.mit.edu!news.mathworks.com!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.missouri.edu!vortex.cc.missouri.edu!rhys From: rhys@vortex.cc.missouri.edu (Justin "Rhys Thuryn" McNutt) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Followup-To: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Date: 1 May 1996 18:56:32 GMT Organization: University of Missouri - Columbia Lines: 96 Message-ID: <4m8c50$1g5u@news.missouri.edu> References: <4ki055$60l@Radon.Stanford.EDU> <4lfm6m$d2c@rigel.tm.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de> <4lftn3$olb@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <317C8F0F.307E@curtin.edu.au> <4lgo4c$6fa@solaria.cc.gatech.edu> <317E07F1.441D@curtin.edu.au> <317DAA16.42C86E59@lambert.org> <4lqpu1$j7q@news.missouri.edu> <31813BBE.467CAA89@lambert.org> <4lujcs$46t@symiserver2.symantec.com> <3182DF63.2DFB1742@lambert.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: vortex.cc.missouri.edu X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:22731 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:890 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3596 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3452 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18491 comp.os.linux.advocacy:47616 Terry Lambert (terry@lambert.org) wrote: : tedm@symantec.com wrote: : ] [big long reasoning stating that Microsoft won't die deleted] : ] : ] This looks fine on the surface, until you start looking at the : ] history of large corporations. : ] : ] The problem is that any company, no matter how large or small, : ] must have a "vision" or leader of some kind. In small : ] companies the leader is usually the founder. In large : ] companies, a sucession of leaders usually takes place. : ] : ] Microsoft is a young company yet, and I'd wager to say that as : ] long as Bill Gates is taking a personal interest in the : ] company, it will thrive. The big question is what happens : ] afterward. : [ ... ] : ] Eventually, Microsoft will lose Bill G, or he will make a : ] fatal mistake, and the glass mirror will be shattered. If : ] Microsoft ever declares a large loss then it will lose the : ] aura of invincibility that it currently maintains and Bill : ] will never be able again to dictate the computer industry : ] the way he does now. : [ ... ] : ] It just goes back to "the bigger they are the harder they : ] fall" A huge company like Apple Computer, or IBM is no : ] more immune to stupid leadership or simple mistakes by : ] smart leadership than a small company. The only difference : ] between those 2 and Microsoft is that Small&Limp hasn't made : ] any mistakes ....... yet. : I think that this whole summation is based on some false premises: : 1) The inevitability of failure : Counter: it hasn't failed yet. So what? I haven't died yet either. : 2) Dependence on a visionary goals and/or leadership : Counter: the Catholic Church during the Inquisition Spiritual beliefs and the computer industry have few parallels. I think this is a bad analogy. : 3) Companies dies of old age : Counter: General foods : Counter #2: governments, specifically Britain General Foods might be your exception that you mention below. Your government analogy doesn't work for two reasons. 1) Governments *make* their own rules, and then play by them. Businesses are more subject to rules laid down by the consumer. 2) The British gov't has already undergone the fall described above. Remember the British Empire? There was a time when the sun never set on British territory. Now look at today. They are still here, and they are still a first-world power, but not nearly the same as they were before. : 4) Perception is power : Counter: Machiavelli's "The Prince" I'm not familiar with this one, so I can't counter your counter. :) : 5) "The bigger they are, the arder they fall" : Counter: "The exception that makes the rule" That's a pretty weak argument in any event. History teaches one thing above all else, and that is the transience of everything. Unix will eventually die out as well. Humans and Unix may die out at the same time, but eventually, the universe will be: universe = universe - (humans + unix) I think Microsoft is much more transient than Unix, and more specifically, much more transient than free unix. : Any one of these should be enough to discredit the causality : chain you are proposing. Opinion based on the assumed validity of your statements. -------- If you can lead it to water and force it to drink, it isn't a horse. Got a Linux problem? Or can you help others solve them? Visit the Linux Common Problems page at http://vortex.cc.missouri.edu/~rhys/linux.html rhys@vortex.cc.missouri.edu