*BSD News Article 7902


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Newsgroups: comp.unix.solaris,comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: Solaris 1.1 vs. Solaris 2.0 (BSD vs AT&T)
Message-ID: <1egusmINNtu@terra.cs.waikato.ac.nz>
From: bcs@terra.cs.waikato.ac.nz (Brent Summers)
Date: 20 Nov 1992 09:53:42 +1300
References: <1992Nov15.035135.15514@ra.msstate.edu> <Bxt8rG.DE3@fulcrum.co.uk> <1992Nov17.160727.9137@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu>
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In article <1992Nov17.160727.9137@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu> rick@sjsumcs.sjsu.edu
(Richard Warner) writes:
|DEC is pushing OSF/1, which is has SysV roots,  IBM pushes AIX which is
|a SysV derivative.  They may not call them SysV - but they are much
|more SysV than BSD!

This highlights the great lie: *if* you define "your operating system" in
terms of kernel design and layout (although the contents of the programmers
libraries and their exact semantics are much more important IMHO) then
neither SVR4 nor any other so-called UNIX is going to be the `standard', or
a significant `unifying force', or `the real UNIX' or any of the other neat
phrases flying around at the moment.

There will be: SVR4 in all it's flavours; OSF/1; AIX (if it isn't subsumed
into OSF/1); BSD (which may or may not die commercially, but will exist for
years to come anyway on the desks of the world); CMU Mach; maybe eventually
something decended from Plan9; one day GNU; Tanenbaum's Amoeba for
enthusiasts; Linux; MINIX; xyzzyIX...

Get the idea?  `UNIX' is dead, SVR4 is an unsuccessful attempt to (to quote
someone else's sig) "...bring them all, and in the darkness bind them" - no
slur on AT&T/USL/Suns motives intended, of course.

Some people prefer BSD, some SysV, many don't know the difference and don't
care.  Perhaps we should all get on with working out how software
portability can be achieved across these platforms?  That is the point
really, isn't it?  Not "what do I type to create a new user account?"

-- 
+-Brent Summers, U of Waikato, NZ------------------------------------------+
|   Programming:  Navigating through an infinity of programs in search of  |
|   one of a much smaller infinity of reasonable solutions.  Blindfolded.  |
+--------------------------------------------------------bcs@waikato.ac.nz-+