Re: IBM loses its Unix license - Jun. 16, 2003

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Adam Lang
Systems Engineer
Rutgers Casualty Insurance
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Midrange Systems Technical Discussion" <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 11:03 AM
Subject: RE: IBM loses its Unix license - Jun. 16, 2003


> ILE, the CISC/RISC upgrade, LPAR, Java integration, EVI indexing - all of
> these are significant advancements that required true innovation, at least
> IMHO.  But I'm not a big Mac afficianado and by no means a *nix expert, so
> perhaps I shouldn't make sweeping statements.  Maybe you can share some
> technological innovations from the Mac/*nix side of the world?

Hoenstly, I do not specifically knwo what ILE is. As for CISC/RISC, Java
integration ... how are those IBM OS innovations?  Plus, CSIC/RISC is
hardware.  I don't consider it an OS innovation being able to work with a
piece fo hardware. Aren't EVI Indexes a database  feature and not an OS?  In
all honesty, I can't really think of anything that anyone really has done
that is termed an "innovation" on the OS end for awhile.

Also, most arguments about Windows is that it runs liek crap, so the logical
statement is that you don't want OS innovation, you want stability, which
that 35 year old unix/linux OS gives you.  I can say stability > innovation
for my server.  Oh my! OLE DB! That's cool! .. .shit, my app crashed again
and it brought down the server. ;)

> I still think that the majority of real OS-level advances have come from
> IBM.  Neither *nix nor Windows has done a whole lot to raise the bar in
> recent years.  At the same time, I have to admit I can say that with much
> more certainty about Windows than *nix, and if you feel I'm wrong, please
> give me some insight as to what I've missed.  (Really, I want to know.
I'm
> about to do a scratch install of RH9.0, and I want to know what the cool
> stuff to play with is <grin>.)

Again, what OS level advances in recent years?  Unix had multi tasking OSes
before your beloved OS/2 was even on the drawing board.  Also, what exactly
is "recent years"? Last 5 years? 10? 20?  Again, in all honesty, I really
don't know what there is innovative beyond GUI, Memory management and multi
tasking.  The only thing IBM does have over the other OSes as far as ahead
fo the curve is the native database part fo the filesystem.