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From: dna@dsd.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Who's Next?
Message-ID: <227@dsd.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Jan-84 15:08:29 EST
Article-I.D.: dsd.227
Posted: Wed Jan  4 15:08:29 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 6-Jan-84 02:36:13 EST
Lines: 44


Subject: Re: Who's Next? - (nf)
Newsgroups: net.micro

  Who's next?  Really, who is now?  I agree with the argument that
UCSD-Pascal was just another fad (along with Forth).  CPM is here
to stay.  It has the advantage of simplicity.  Everyone knows CPM.
I also agree that UNIX will *NOT* be the next major O.S. for micro's.
In order for something to beat out CPM, it has to have more advantages
than dissadvantages.  For the novice user, UNIX just plain stinks.  It
us hard to use.  It is cryptic.  It has horrible error messages.  And
lastly is is much too easy to do horrible damage to your files without
even trying (very hard).  Further (as has also been mentioned several
times before) it requires excessive amounts of central memory and disc
storage.  Lastly, the multi-tasking features of UNIX (at least all the
implementations I have inventigated) are buried so far down into the
KERNEL that user programs can not use them.  (yeah, I know you can
pipe things all over the place and spawn processes, but get them
to talk to each other in real time.)  Why should anyone WANT to use
UNIX (other than the 'fad' aspect of it).
  No, I don't believe that UNIX(tm) is the next popular O.S. for
micros.  If it weren't for the public abhoration for anything INTEL
does until some outside vendor changes the name and sells it, I would
say RMX-86 would stand a good chance.  It has reasonable multi-tasking
facilities and a semi-acceptable command interpreter.  This does bring
to light the two-sided nature of the next 'popular' O.S.  First of all
it will have to support multi-users/multi-tasks.  Secondly it will have
to *LOOK* like CPM/MSDOS/...  Now for all you UNIX(tm) fans out there,
don't fret.  It will also have to support a UNIX(tm) shell.  What is
this fantastic system going to be?  It beats the heck out of me.
Everyone I have talked to is either playing 'catch up' or is trying
to band-aid currently existing systems to do more and more.  Little
effort has been given to taking one of the multi-tasking packages and
build reasonable support utilities over it.  (You pick it, VRTX or
MTOS are supported on several machines including the 68k and '86).
The only integrated package for a micro that I know that does all this
is RMX-86, and it is an INTEL product.  It also only runs on an 8086
and (here goes again) is written in PLM-86.  So what is the answer?
 
  Don't ask me, I only have the questions.

                                                Mike Spann

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