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One big takeaway is how close the real Unix (in the form of 386BSD) came to being where Linux is today. If it had been available freely one year earlier, Linux

One big takeaway is how close the real Unix (in the form of 386BSD) came to being where Linux is today. If it had been available freely one year earlier, Linux wouldn't have gained momentum. Would it be better to have one true free Unix-like OS now, rather than two? Did the free-for-all development in Linux depend on it having no "pure" ancestry? Nobody knows.

geocar 4y ago
> If it had been available freely one year earlier, Linux wouldn't have gained momentum. I doubt that. Real Unix was a pretty horrible experience for a lot of hobbyists starting right from the disklabel, and many of those smug bastards where pretty horrible people to hobbyists. The fact Linux worked on crap hardware meant people who could only afford crap hardware could learn it, and get good at it. Linux overtook Real Unix real fast in-terms of hardware support -- so fast I don't think *BSD ever stood a chance. Stability and quality is a double-edged sword: You think you gotta keep the crap out or it gets crap, but the reality is that crap is what makes it fun, and fun is why people used Linux and not Real Unix. If you want to make something great, you've got to do is focus on things that matter, and remember: fun matters more than scsi. > Would it be better to have one true free Unix-like OS now, rather than two? Did the free-for-all development in Linux depend on it having no "pure" ancestry? Nobody knows. Some people say "pure" and others say "inbred". I say this thing you're thinking about is a distraction: anything that prevents people from trying things out is slowing progress, there just ain't two ways around it. Worse is not better: It just means you don't know what's important. Better is better.
- anthk 4y ago
  Also, alternatives coming from Linux vs "the corporate Unix" often used far less memory and CPU and ran much faster. XTerm vs Rxvt Fvwm vs CDE Netscape/Mozilla vs Dillo Irix' MWM vs JWM
kikoreis 4y ago
Well, the reason Linus could confidently choose to license the kernel as GPLv2 is exactly because it inherited no incompatibly-licensed code. USL v. BSDi (also 1992 — what a year!) is evidence of how non-trivial this actually is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc._v._Berkeley_Software_Design,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc.....

geocar 4y ago

> If it had been available freely one year earlier, Linux wouldn't have gained momentum. I doubt that. Real Unix was a pretty horrible experience for a lot of hobbyists starting right from the disklabel, and many of those smug bastards where pretty horrible people to hobbyists. The fact Linux worked on crap hardware meant people who could only afford crap hardware could learn it, and get good at it. Linux overtook Real Unix real fast in-terms of hardware support -- so fast I don't think *BSD ever stood a chance. Stability and quality is a double-edged sword: You think you gotta keep the crap out or it gets crap, but the reality is that crap is what makes it fun, and fun is why people used Linux and not Real Unix. If you want to make something great, you've got to do is focus on things that matter, and remember: fun matters more than scsi. > Would it be better to have one true free Unix-like OS now, rather than two? Did the free-for-all development in Linux depend on it having no "pure" ancestry? Nobody knows. Some people say "pure" and others say "inbred". I say this thing you're thinking about is a distraction: anything that prevents people from trying things out is slowing progress, there just ain't two ways around it. Worse is not better: It just means you don't know what's important. Better is better.

anthk 4y ago
Also, alternatives coming from Linux vs "the corporate Unix" often used far less memory and CPU and ran much faster. XTerm vs Rxvt Fvwm vs CDE Netscape/Mozilla vs Dillo Irix' MWM vs JWM

kikoreis 4y ago

Well, the reason Linus could confidently choose to license the kernel as GPLv2 is exactly because it inherited no incompatibly-licensed code. USL v. BSDi (also 1992 — what a year!) is evidence of how non-trivial this actually is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc._v._Berkeley_Software_Design,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNIX_System_Laboratories,_Inc.....