🚀 go-pugleaf

eagle@garfield.catt.ncsu.edu (Daniel L'Hommedieu) writes:

]frotz@dri.com (Frotz) writes:
]>There will be no other operating system for the 90s other
]>than DOS (at least for the first half!).  

	Perhaps I should have qualified this a bit more than I did.  I
don't forsee another operating system replacing DOS on the machines
already in existence (and running DOS).  I am a believer in Unix and I
hope that the Unix marketplace expands to fill much of the software
power requirements of the DOS market, but *I* just don't see it
happening.  Those who will move to Unix *from* DOS have already done
it or have access to/own a Unix boxen.  These numbers are not all that
large. 

At work I use our Ultrix boxen because it gives me better productivity
than using the VMS side of things here.  I still have a DOS box at
home.  In fact, I go out of my way to find PD sources that are
available on Unix to port to DOS to make it do the things that I need.
This however, does not mean I have the $$$ (let alone the room at
home;-} to go get a unix machine, at least not the unix box that *I*
want...;-)

]I beg to differ, John.  Unix is going to be a major player in the
]Operating System game of the 90's.  I'm actually surprised at how long
]MeSsy-DOS has lasted!  

I am not arguing this point, but I think that the game in which Unix
is a major place is not the *exactly* same game in which DOS plays.
Sure, there are overlaps, but there are many factors which go into
installing a system in a small (or large) office. 

1) What applications are needed and *are* they available under Unix? 

2) What are the installation costs of Unix v. DOS?  (I have no
experience here with Unix installations.)

3) What are the maintenance costs of Unix v. DOS?  (Milage may vary,
depending on the uses of the box.  e.g. If you have email connectivity
between workstations in an office, then you have (most likely) UUCP or
SMTP to keep track of, in addition to writing the user scripts to
"hide" much of the details of this from the Joe Average User.)

4) What are the costs of Unix v. DOS/Lans?  (Here I would suspect that
Unix would win out in terms of productivity gains.)

]Now, whether or not my next computer (NeXT
]computer?) runs OS/2, I don't know.  I can guarantee you one thing,
]however: it will NOT be MS-DOS! 

I also would probably not want a DOS OS on my next box, however, there
are DOS alternatives that are managable.  Our Multi-user DOS v5 is not
that bad.  (Personally, I still want Unix, but it is still not that
bad for 386/486 users.)

--
John "Frotz" Fa'atuai	frotz@dri.com			(email@domain)
Digital Research, Inc.	uunet!drivax!frotz		(bang!email)
c/o MIS Dept.		408/647-6570 or 408/646-6287	(vmail)
80 Garden Court, CompRm	408/649-3896			(phone)
Monterey, CA  93940	408/646-6248			(fax)

#include <sys/disclaimers.h>	// My thoughts and these words are my own.