steve@wlbr.UUCP (Steve Childress) (09/06/85)
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Re: The OS9 operating system for the Amiga ...
OS9 would be a great operating system for the machine, IF ...
1) Microware (OS9's owner) had succeeded in courting Commodore
2) Someone would bring up a windows package for OS9 which
followed a defacto standard like GEM or TOPVIEW. Doing so
would provide a software bridge INTO OS9 from MS-DOS, et al.
3) OS9's cost is far lower than *nix, but ...
o It is not simple to port *nix programs to OS9/68K
and thus very few have been,
o It is far easier to port *nix programs to MS-DOS
via Microsoft's new compiler (!= Lattice) than
it is to port to OS9 (in my experience). This is
because Microsoft's C library is sparse; the compiler
is OK, except even it, as I recall, lacks enum's.
o There is no marketing motivation to port MS-DOS stuff
to OS9, thus its not been done.
4) I read that Amiga-DOS has multi-tasking and *nix-like file
system... so what attraction has a foreign O/S like OS9?
Maybe Amiga-DOS turns out to be a dog and things will change...
5) I liked the AT&T 7300 (UNIX PC) because of the marriage of
Unix 5.2.v2 + 68K + bit-mapped display human factors. But
the proprietary bus killed it for me. Thus, I'll not buy a
machine lacking an integral bit-mapped display... dumb terminals
are bad news... The Amiga seems to fit in between the 7300 and
the MAC.
NOW ------
If only they can sell it in large enough quantities to break
the software catch-22.
Regards,
Steve Childress
Eaton IMS R&D Group MS 43
31717 La Tienda Drive
Westlake Village, CA 91360
(818) 889-2211 X2148
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