David Cartwright <dsc(a)cube8.com> writes:
> Are Microsoft really catching up? Are Sun and HP losing out to
> Linux?
Well, Linux is catching up with MS in terms of market share, while it
seems that MS is catching up in terms of stability and "gee wow" UI
frippery (from what I see on my neighbour's Win2k desktop). I'm still
healthily doubtful about Windows being able to work on two
architectures equally well, as we all remember what a success NT on
Alpha has been, right?
Sun and HP probably are losing the low-end to Linux. How far that
goes depends what tactics Sun and HP adopt to block it (as this nearly
always results in shooting oneself in the foot) or adopt it (which
sometimes helps, sometimes hinders).
> Will Linux be big on the desktop? Whatever happened to SGI?
Well, as you know, where I'm working already has Unix on the desktop
and a growing proportion of them are Linux now, because it's cheaper
to roll out than Solaris (even though the Solaris OS has no purchase
cost to us either) and there's more documentation and assistance out
there for it. SGI appear to be confused.
> Should we all forget commercial *nixes, or do the Suns and HPs of
> this world still have plenty of marketplace alongside those of us
> with Linux on our laptops?
Wait and see what happens on SMP, clustering, etc. Some of the pure
mathematicians are already a lot happier running their software on
Linux rather than the Suns, as they can add more power more cheaply(sp?)
to commodity x86 hardware.
> Dave Cartwright
> (yes, the ex-UEA/SYS one for those who remember)
Applying for any upcoming UEA vacancies? ;-)
MJR
(yes, the current UEA/MTH one)