Re: Re: MISC personal computers

["dirnfir" <dirnfir@xxxxxxx>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Jaap van Ganswijk <ganswijk@xs4all.nl>
To: <MISC@pisa.rockefeller.edu>
Sent: Monday, February 08, 1999 5:43 PM
Subject: Re: Re: MISC personal computers


>Let's try to learn a lesson from history:
>
>OS's and hardware are almost always 'grown' seperately.

[OS list snipped]

>I could say a lot of each point seperately but basically the independent
OS's
>did much better than the dependent ones. Even after changing category later
>in life (like GEM, OS/2, NextStep) they didn't make it. Only AppleOS is
still
>alive...
>
>Ergo, to promote a new computer/OS combination would be silly. Let's
seperate
>the problem and see what questions are left:
>1. Why would I like to write a new OS for the MISC?
>2. In what way would a MISC be better for running an existing or new OS?
>
>At 1. Why write a new OS? We already have too many. Port Linux.
>At 2. I don't know... It would really have to execute compiled C code fast,
>because of the vested interests, I think... And you really can't compete
with
>the pentium-boards industry. Going multi-processor is a weakness offer
>(and adding an enormous amount of undue complexity at the same time).

Jaap,

     The point of writing a new OS is to free yourself from the
out-of-control OS and software bloat inherent in previous designs.  Even
Linux is horribly bloated, and it's not getting better.  A conventional OS
on a MISC platform would be no better than a conventional OS on, say, a
StrongARM RISC processor.  It would be the same wolf all over again, but in
a different sheep's clothing.  After dabbling in Forth, I don't think I can
ever go back to C, with it's edit-compile-debug cycle, it's over-long
procedures, tedious function calls, and confusing syntax.  Forth has warped
my brain. ;)
    I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that you do not want to
duplicate previous bloated designs, you want to innovate, to create
something "insanely great", as Steve Jobs would say.  C is not insanely
great, it's just insane. :)  Remember that hardware is the reality, and
software is but an illusion.

Best wishes,
    dirnfir

--
dirnfir (dirnfir@usa.net)     icq 30669418