At 7:25 AM -0700 4/7/02 (yes, on an early Sunday morning, with
recent daylight-savings time), Duane Percox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>3. Recent comments have alluded that maybe since HP is trumpeting Linux
> as a development platform that indicates HP's direction and so
> HP-UX must be the next to go. That would be a mis-application of
> context. Linux is a very good development platform. The cost of
> ownership is low and you can have lots of them hanging around for
> little cost compared to hp-ux. The code you develop can be easily
> deployed on hp-ux. The tools are mostly free and come with source
> code. Why not use Linux for development. Foolish not to. HP-UX has
> value to large enterprise customers who want the advanced features
> of the o/s. While Linux is an interesting play long term, I think
> you will see hp-ux around for quite awhile.
I have always been impressed by operating systems. In fact, as I sit
in my hotel room in San Francisco (just before packing to drive East),
I am surrounded by TWO machines that, between them, are capable of
running a plethora of OSs. Specifically:
1) My trusty hp3000 runs MPE/iX (which can also run HP-UX, so I hear).
2) My trusty Mac Titanium PowerBook, which runs several OSs:
a) Mac OS 9.2.x (native, direct hardware control).
b) Mac OS X (Unix, microkernel; native, direct hardware control).
c) Linux (SuSE distribution, monolithic kernel; native, direct
hardware control). It has Mac-on-Linux, to run "classic" Mac
programs. This is an interesting idea for the folks who are
working on MPE emulators. See http://www.suse.com for
details. Users of PowerPC machines (not only Macs but also
IBM RS/6000s and others) please see
http://www.suse.com/us/products/suse_linux/ppc/index.html
Just the manuals, by the way, are worth the US$79. SuSE
is one of the best Linux distributions around and, of course,
you can also get it for your Intel (or AMD) machines, as well
as for Alpha, SPARC, IA, and so on. The SuSE Linux community
exudes an aura of enthusiasm that reminds me of the passionate
early days of the hp3000.
d) Windows 2000 (via Virtual PC, a software emulator of the
Intel processor that runs under Mac OS 9.2.x and under
Mac OS X).
e) Mac OS "classic" (under Mac OS X).
This is just one particular example of what I happen to have within
a radius of a few feet (and I haven't bothered with all the embedded
systems in "appliances" such as cell phones, etc.) I am sure you can
see similar (or, in the case of my good friend Denys, much better)
examples in your own environments. The issue of interest, for me,
has always been the "soul" of the machine, as demonstrated by the
OS (or by any software, in fact). Here is the same collection of
transistors, but acting and looking totally differently according
to the software that brings it to life.
I love software and I am thankful that I have chosen to play with
it and to have fun with it (while, at the same time, producing
systems that are useful to my customers). I am VERY thankful that
I don't spend every waking hour worrying about the things that
HP managers worry about (studying trends in great scientific detail,
for instance). That must be a very difficult job and -- judging
from the comments on hp3000-L -- that must also be a thankless job.
But what am I doing? Why bring the word "job" to a beautiful Sunday
morning? Sundays are for fun! Sundays are for expressing and for
living our deepest passion for life and for celebrating life, by
ourselves or in the company of our families and our friends. So,
back to the warmth of operating systems as a healthy antigen (or
antidote or antibody or whatever you prefer) for cold-blooded
calculations... After all, please keep in mind that Linus Torvalds
most certainly did NOT start his passionate work on Linux as part
of an MBA. He built Linux just for fun. The fact that HP (following
IBM's leadership) has also jumped on the Linux bandwagon produces a
well-deserved sense of true fun for operating-system lovers. But
what I am doing, again, mentioning bandwagons and such? Well, this
is not too bad for a Sunday morning, because bandwagons are fun :-)
_______________
| |
| |
| r | Alfredo [log in to unmask]
| e | http://www.adager.com
| g | F. Alfredo Rego
| a | Manager, R & D Labs
| d | Adager Corporation
| A | Sun Valley, Idaho 83353-3000 U.S.A.
| |
|_______________|
* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *
|
