Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!munnari.oz.au!uhccux!tholen
From: tholen@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (David Tholen)
Newsgroups: comp.os.os2.misc
Subject: Re: (Sigh) Here we go again...
Message-ID: <12947@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu>
Date: 9 May 91 23:17:35 GMT
Organization: University of Hawaii
Lines: 19

Larry Salomon, Jr. writes:

> Agreed.  Unix's availability on many different platforms is one of the
> reasons it is so popular.

It's also the reason why there isn't a very large shrink-wrap software
market for UNIX.  Try taking binary code running under Sun UNIX on a
SPARC processor and executing it on machines running DEC Ultrix on a
VAX processor, or IBM AIX on their RISC or CISC machines, or Apple A/UX
on a Motorola 68030, or a NeXT, or an Apollo, or, or, or...

That's one of the reasons why there is so much free UNIX software out
there.  You have to distribute source code.  It's a great situation for
the users, but you can't earn a living writing code and giving it away
for free.

And the intense competition in the DOS world helps keep prices down and
leads to constant enhancement.  How many choices are there for C compilers
for DOS?  How many choices are there for C compilers for the Sun SPARC line?