Tracy Johnson paraphrases and provokes thought:
 
>From what "I" have been given to believe from mentors and other computer
>experts is POSIX is NOT an OPERATING SYSTEM.
 
>The original question (to paraphrase) wondered why an OPERATING SYSTEM
>(HP-UX in the original question) couldn't run under POSIX!!!!
 
>Think about it.
 
Perhaps the question should be rephrased:
 
What is it that users want when they refer to
"[Unix|HP-UX|AIX|ULTRIX|...]"? (Better, what is NOT
provided by MPEX that is in [choose one of the above]?)
 
Let's see. MPE has a scriptable command interpreter. No - that's not it.
 
MPE forks, execs, signals, sends, recvs, ftps, telnets ... No, that's
not it.
 
MPE can do gcc/g++/perl/python/pgp/java ... That's not it.
 
Ah - single character IO. Wait - MPE does that, albeit not well.
 
Aha! I've got it - RAW IO. Well, we could add a type manager that
creates a file and links it to something in /dev/blech and make it
appear to be a raw partition. Ah heck, that's just normal file IO stuff.
 
Come to think of it, I don't know why with a little work, we
couldn't also call ourselves something ending in IX like the other guys.
How about ... MPE/iX? If it walks like Unix, talks like Unix ...
 
It is a matter of perception, and as some of the people around here do
eloquently point out, it ain't our perception that is skewed, but the
rest of the non-believers. And that mostly starts with the non-believers
within HP.
 
What does it take to brand an operating system with the UNIX brand?
There is ATT Unix, BSD Unix, HP Unix, IBM Unix, DEC Unix ... What if
there were MPE Unix? Why couldn't MPE provide all of the functionality
provided by one of the other Unices and actually get branded as a flavor
of Unix?
 
Perception, I tell you! Maybe we take what was already started with the
POSIX subsystem and extend it to the point that it passes the suites.
And we sell MPE as another flavor of Unix to those who want to simply
jump on the Unix bandwaggon. If they then discover the other features
and benefits of MPE, then all the better!
 
Enough rambling. But to paraphrase both Tracy and Arsinio ... "It makes
you wanna go 'Hmmmmmmmm'".
 
[flame suite on]
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mark Klein                                              DIS International, Ltd.
http://www.dis.com                                      415-892-8400