Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!image.soe.clarkson.edu!jk0
From: jk0@image.soe.clarkson.edu (Jason Coughlin)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Re: The future of Minix
Message-ID: <1990Feb15.153248.6537@sun.soe.clarkson.edu>
Date: 15 Feb 90 15:32:48 GMT
References: <1500@crash.cts.com>
Sender: jk0@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Jason Coughlin)
Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY
Lines: 56

Someone said:
> Unfair to shell out $115 for one semester? That's not that bad, in comparison
>to some $70 chemistry text books I have used. A hell of alot more usefull 
>once the course is finished!

	This is exactly what I'm trying to avoid -- paying $115 for a program
that won't be used the minute the final is over.  (See below for why the
program isn't used later.)

Someone else said:
>EE/CS 338 at UIUC: Computer Networks (A undergrad/grad course):
>There are two required texts (one of which is by Andy Tanenbaum), which the
>bookstore has ONLY NEW copies of: the Tanenbaum book is $55, and the other is
>$59.  I spent $250 for books last semester.

	So what is your point? You didn't *want* to pay $250 did you?
(Answer 'No').  Then why would you want to spend $115 on Minix?  My point
is to prevent this kind of thing.

From article <1500@crash.cts.com>, by cwr@pnet01.cts.com (Will Rose):
> However, at the end of the day student's using Minix will be paying 
> $120-130 for the program, $40-$50 for the textbook, and $20-$30 for
> a book on using Unix (eg. McGilton and Morgan).  A lot of money for
> one course, or even two; I wonder what will happen next?

	Don't forget the $250 (and that's an underestimate) for a
hard-disk, Minix 1.5, 1.6, 2.0 all require a hard-disk.  Now come off of
it: $40 + $115 + $250 = much too much for an *undergrad* course with a
program that is a "learning" OS.  Undergrads just don't spend enough
time digging through code to make $115 worth it.

> Certainly $120 for a program with no development cost (subsumed into the
> original textbook cost), no support cost (apart from printing ast's email
> address), and no maintenance cost (partly free from the net, and partly
> subsumed into the cost of ast's next edition) is good business.  My guess
> is that 1.6 and later will allow no copying, and PH will try to move Minix
> as far upscale as the market will bear.  The fun will be to see how far
> they get, without falling flat on their faces or pulling in the competition.
>  

	I concurr.  Remember folks, Minix is a LEARNING OS -- developed
to *TEACH* the ideas of OS.  The program is not a "real" enough OS to
replace MS-DOS, OS/2, or AIX so when the course is over, Minix most
likely goes back in the disk box.  If Minix were totally capable of
replacing MS-DOS, OS/2, or AIX (on the student's machine) then $115 is a
bargain that couldn't be passed up. 
 
	BTW, my opinions are based on $115 price for Minix.  They are NOT
a criticism of Andy's work or of Andy in general.  Personally, I like
the beauty of Minix.

-- 
Jason Coughlin ( jk0@sun.soe.clarkson.edu , jk0@clutx )
"Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part that wonders what the
part that isn't thinking isn't thinking of." - They Might Be Giants