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> The reasons it died are likely: The reason Plan 9 died a swift death was that, unlike Unix – which hardware manufacturers could license for a song and adapt
by teddyh 1y ago
> The reasons it died are likely:
The reason Plan 9 died a swift death was that, unlike Unix –
which hardware manufacturers could license for a song and adapt to their own hardware (and be guaranteed compatibility with lots of Unix software) – Bell Labs tried to sell Plan 9, as commercial software, for $350 a box.
(As I have written many times in the past: <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22412539 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22412539>, <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33937087 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33937087>, and <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43641480 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43641480>)
- EdiX 1y agoVersion 1 was never licensed to anyone. Version 2 was only licensed to universities for an undiscolsed price. Version 3 was sold as a book, I think this is the version you are referring to. However note that this version contained a license that only allowed non commercial uses of the source code. It also came with no support, no community and no planned updates (the project was shelved half a year later in favor of inferno) More than the price tag the problem is that plan 9 wasn't really released until 2004.
- Shugyousha 1y agoStrictly speaking, it's not dead. The code is now open source and all the rights are with the Plan 9 foundation: https://p9f.org/ https://p9f.org/ It's just unlikely that it will get as big of a following as Linux has.
- pjmlp 1y agoHad UNIX also been something like other OSes price points, instead of a song as you say, it would never even taken off, it was more about the openess and being crazy cheap than the alternatives, than anything else.