Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!zrm From: zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: GNU Ramblings, Unix thoughts. Keywords: Gnu Unix Operating Systems Compatibility Support 4.3BSD Message-ID: <7858@eddie.MIT.EDU> Date: 10 Jan 88 18:56:15 GMT References: <1351@sugar.UUCP> <850@elmgate.UUCP> <5166@elroy.Jpl.Nasa.Gov> <302@thirdi.UUCP> Reply-To: zrm@eddie.MIT.EDU (Zigurd R. Mednieks) Organization: MIT, EE/CS Computer Facilities, Cambridge, MA Lines: 46 In article <302@thirdi.UUCP> peter@thirdi.UUCP (Peter Rowell) writes: > >It is one thing for Stallman to say, "Hey! Here's this free software!", >and quite another thing for AT&T or Sun or IBM to say, "Here is what we >are supplying to 10,000 (or 1,000,000) customers. If you would like >to sell into this customer base, you should consider using our standard." > Peter Rowell has put his finger right on the issue. The Free Software Foundation is nothing more radical than a patent pool or other collaborative R&D effort. If GNU's standards are adopted then GNU will be a success. Thusfar, Richard Stallman's organization has shown they can produce product, which is rather more than many celebrated and lavishly funded efforts in this industry can claim. What is missing is a demonstration that Free Software can work with a manufacturer to bring a GNU-based product to market. Now I may be unaware of agreements that have yet to bear fruit, but the impression I get is that Richard Stallman has difficulty asking for money from the very people he castigates for creating problems in the software world, and that the people that fund collaborative research efforts are put off by some of Free Software's dogma. Yes, I do mean dogma. Would Richard compromise his policies, particularly if some marketing department functionary who stands far below him intellectually, was asking for compromise? I would bet against it. Would he let a board of industry stuffed shirts oversee his operation? It would stick in his craw. So I am not too optimistic about GNU. On the other hand I am all for it. The world could really use a "free" (apart from what it costs to support Free Software) Unix-compatible but rather more advanced OS. Would a manufacturer, say NBI or some other workstation company looking for a way to say, loud and clear, "Look, this is better than Sun!" be willing to fund FSF, stand clear, and hope to benefit from the result? I hope so, the Unix world is getting boring. -Zigurd -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zigurd Mednieks MURSU Corporation (617)424-0146 25 Exeter Street Boston, MA 02116