🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <14699@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU> zuhn@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu (david d [zoo] zuhn) writes:
>But in many UNIX installations (where GNU is currently targeted), especially
>academic environments, free software (in terms of dollars) is the only real
>way that we (the users) can get our hands on code.  Our department doesn't

Why for Gods sake do you want to get your hands on the code.
Working in  an academic environment means that you're doing
some more or less fundamental research. You're not supposed to
change around in the operating system nor is it expected from you
to find and fix bugs. I'm working in an academic environment and my
work has never depended on stuff I got from the net. In fact that stuff
often doesn't work (especially if X is involved).

>You then can knock off their systems.  But I for one would much rather use
>a system for which I had complete sources.  I intend to buy a box to run
>GNU when a kernel becomes available.

Why would any one be interested in knocking off other peoples systems?

>I don't want to spend lots of money paying for software.  I'd much rather
>spend the extra $$$ for better hardware.  And I generally don't see much
>use in writing code that has already been written, unless its something
>like GNU where the existing code isn't available.  I'd rather write something
>completely new, using your code as a base.
This is a real misunderstanding. Nowadays hardware is getting cheaper and
cheaper. You get more and more performance for your money. On the other
hand software is becoming a bigger problem. Since hardware evolutates
fast, computer firms have to invest large sums of money in maintaining
software and making it available on newer generation machines. A lot
of people have a job in doing this.
What gnu does is rewriting the easy parts and give them away. Their support
is nop. On our hp835 for instance, gcc is not running.
If it would run it would probably be much slower than the hp compiler
so why use it.
By the way: Gnu is not unix but is it going to be a sys5 copy or bsd??
Or are they planning to make GNUX, a new free unix totally incompatible
with either sys5 or bsd. I would prefer the last.

>I don't think I have a failure in my imagination.  I believe that it can work.
>What we need are hardware companies making the best hardware possible, and
>letting the GNU world work on the software. 
It's rather dumb to believe that a couple of students and some people who
are wasting away their bosses time can provide all the software we need.
I think the gnu stuff can only be usefull as supplementary software.
It can never replace the base we need to do our work.



Mart van Stiphout
Eindhoven University of Technology
Dept. of Electrical Engineering -- Room EH7.34
P.O.Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Email: mart@euteal.ele.tue.nl
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Disclaimer: is this gnuru rms really living in his room at mit???