btb@hogpc.UUCP (B.BURGER) (10/03/84)
[Bzzzz] Bill Tuthill uses figures about the installed base of UNIX systems to analyze what versions of UNIX* (System V, XENIX, etc.) will be popular in the future. A few reminders on getting from here to there: 1) Don't confuse UNIX *systems* (which most data describe) with *users*. As an analogy, there are a lot of MS-DOS systems, but only about 1 user per system. 2) The installed base of an OS depends on (primarily): - how good it is - how good the hardware on which it runs is - how long it's been sold, and how well - how much good software runs under it (there bidrectional causality here) Since System V hasn't been on the market long, one wouldn't expect it to have a big share yet. 3) The future popularity of an OS -- which commercial software developers have to predict -- depends on similar factors, but looking toward the future instead of the past. Thus you should consider which versions of UNIX will be supported best. --Bruce Burger AT&T-Information Systems Freehold, NJ {...ihnp4!}hogpc!btb * UNIX is a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories
henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer) (10/04/84)
> ... Thus you should consider > which versions of UNIX will be supported best. And also remember not to confuse effort with results in the support area. To my mind, the old style of AT&T/Bell support -- i.e., none -- was the best. -- Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry