Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!amdahl!nsc!taux01!yuval
From: yuval@taux01.UUCP (Gideon Yuval)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Help us defend against VMS!
Message-ID: <497@taux01.UUCP>
Date: 7 Mar 88 10:39:17 GMT
References: <1636@tulum.UUCP> <3168@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: yuval@taux01.UUCP (Gideon Yuval)
Organization: National Semiconductor (Israel) Ltd.
Lines: 14
Keywords: ABI
Summary: ABI seems limited to SPARCs

> 	The strongest single factor that Unix has going for it (in my
> opinion) is that it runs on zillions of different kinds of hardware.  We
> used to run on pdp-11's and vaxes.  Now we run mostly on Suns.  Tommorow,
> who knows?  Maybe we'll buy a Sequent or an Alliant.  Maybe PC's.  The
> common theme is that they are all Unix, making porting program and user
> skills orders of magnitude easier than moving from one OS to another each

The new ABI standard, which is supposed to be the Unix standard for object-code
distribution, is (a variation of) COFF for SPARC. How much hardware-indpendence
is going to survive the changeover to ABI?

-- 
Gideon Yuval, +972-52-522255 (work), -2-690992 (home), yuval@taux02.nsc.com
 Paper-mail: National Semiconductor, 6 Maskit St., Herzliyah, Israel