Re: IT and UNIX

[Jordan Pollack <pollack@cs.brandeis.edu>]

  I am consulting at a small company which uses NT. The appeal of NT
  is very obvious. You have access to all the legacy windows3/95 applications,
  plus MS has started copying REAL operating systems
  features from unix (and VMS - so why doesnt DEC sue Microsoft as well?:)
  
  The argument that unix is more flexible for workgroups and resource
  sharing and administration of changing programs and avoiding piracy
  concerns simply fail if the front office applications, like spreadsheets
  don't work or are too expensive.
  
  NT includes: 
  
    multitasking
    multiple user logins
    file protection 
    network management
    network file system
    Security (Hmm)
  
  Of course, all these features are alpha or beta quality but NT will, like
  all MS products, be drastically improved by massive investment and installed
  customer base feedback over time.
  
  But the mystery is: Why didn't makers of other operating systems -
  OS/2 Solaris, MacOS, IRIX, Ultrix, Linux - evolve to the pentium and
  pentium pro box and provide the api to run windows apps within
  their own environment?
  
  Perhaps we should ask those companies CTO's... 
  
  It may be that they were too focused on using their software to sell
  their own hardware that they didn't see the truck coming.  So
  corporate culture may be to blame, but everyone could plot
  price/performance curves of microprocessors.
  
  It could be that they knew by the time they made the investment in
  cloning up the subroutines, like DR Dos and 4DOS did (for MSDOS), they
  might get tied up "look and feel" and copyright infringement
  lawsuits. And microsoft will use its power as an I.B.M. to upgrade the
  OS just at the right moment to negate competitor's investments. Does
  anyone remember how the advertising blitz for W95 seemed a response to
  good reviews of of OS/2?
  
  Professor Jordan B. Pollack   DEMO Laboratory, Volen Center for Complex Systems
  Computer Science Dept, MS018  Phone (617) 736-2713/Lab x3366/Fax x2741
  Brandeis University           website: http://www.demo.cs.brandeis.edu
  Waltham, MA 02254             email: pollack@cs.brandeis.edu