This article reminds me of just one more reason I like command line instructions that say what they mean. And no, I’m not saying that Windows is much (if any) better. This is why I miss my DCL. 🙁
Of course that article is another reason not to run at elevated privileges on any operating system.
Read this story and try to tell me some people don’t take their feelings about software too far. Yes, some couple in Sweden named their baby Linux. The obvious question is indeed “Will Richard Stallman insist that the baby be called GNU/Linux?” I honestly hope no one names their kids “Windows Vista” though.
So I decided to make a list of all the operating systems I’ve ever used. now by used I mean really used for meaningfull stuff not just logged in on once. I think I have written a program on everyone of these. Most of them for actual money. On everyone of them I have had administrative privs equivilent to root on Unix. On the ones marked with an * I had knonwledge of the internals of the operating system at a level that let me make modifications to it or use internal tables/data in ways that regular programers could not. For RSTS/E I was actually part of the OS development group and wrote extensive code that was shipped with the OS to customers.
• IBM 1130 DOS
• RSTS/E *
• OS8/COS-310
• RT-11/CTS-300 *
• RSX-11M (and other closely related)
• TRAX
• OS 16 (Perkin Elmer/Interdata)
• OS 32 (Perkin Elmer/Interdata) *
• Unix/Linux (several versions)
• TOPS-10
• TOPS-20
• VMS (Vax/VMS and Alpha VMS) *
• MS-DOS/Windows (lots of versions)
• Mac OS
Two of them I actually like less than Unix/Linux. A couple of others are less powerful than Unix/Linux but so easy to setup and use that I like them better anyway. I don’t actually think of myself as being all that experienced BTW. There are a number of operating systems I wish I’d gotten to try. I think it is really too bad that there are so few operating systems in general use today. I blame Linux for that. Given the high cost of entry for developing a new OS competing with free means very little chance to recoop costs. And Linux sucks up all the people willing to work for free.
BTW A few computers I’ve worked with hardly count as having a real OS. Such as the following:
PDP-8 with paper tape assembler
First generation TRS-80
IBM P6060
Apple II
Anyone here have a longer list?
Do any of you read the Fake Steve Jobs blog? Today he had me rolling with this post. Most of the time he blasts Microsoft. But I do love it when he goes off on Linux people. Highly amusing.