Unix at 40

[Antman]

The middle-aged OS is not expected to die any time soon, just slowly fade away...

Unix at 40: Hanging on despite strong Linux, Windows challenges | Networking - InfoWorld

 

[Night Hawk]

The old UNIX based OS is still lingering isn't it?! Probably the singular reason I even have a few distros onhand here is simply for those times when you lose access to a drive or partition on a Windows machine and it then serves as a free data recovery tool!

Well it does provide a look at what you miss out on when not running 7 when making a comparison as well. Life without 7! "Unthinkable"! :shock:

Speaking of Linux hanging on... http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow/?p=11243&tag=nl.e539

Someone will send me articles like these often enough! :sarc:

 

[praseodeveloper]

Solaris and AIX have a long way to go before being slain.
They have their own market segments.
I do not feel that UNIX will not enjoy a 50th anniversary.

 

[Night Hawk]

Solaris is of course SUN Microsystem's own OS for their brand of systems there. Mainly you are looking at the more server type OS there as well as you would when looking at Mandriva formerly Mandrake and Fedora as well as the large server type distros.

In fact 7 will now be seeing cross support for Linux applications. That will tend to draw people more towards MS being able to still run some familiar apps.

Will UNIX hit 50? That would be interesting to see one way or the other.

 

[Crypto]

I still dont get this,

Linux is hard to use, although it is a good OS for the Pros, its damn hard for the majority.
Though its Open source, i dont get is why cant they develop something that is more user friendly ? How hard it is to update, install, etc
Look at Microsoft 4 an example, they do have a price, but we do buy them, why ?
and being Linux free why doesnt it been used ?

Im fed up of Linux/Fedora bla bla bla in terms of its Strict Non-User Friendlyness



Would like to know the reason from anyone.

 

[wwoods]

The article is speaking of UNIX being 40...not linsux. Linsux != UNIX

 

[Antman]

I wasn't going to say anything.

UNIX is rather popular with my telco buddies - for billing.

 

[Crypto]

The article is speaking of UNIX being 40...not linsux. Linsux != UNIX

:sarc: Ok I missed it

snyway, you seem to love the suxes too

 

[Joshatdot]

Isn't most of the Internet Backbone on UNIX OS's?

 

[wwoods]

The article is speaking of UNIX being 40...not linsux. Linsux != UNIX

:sarc: Ok I missed it

snyway, you seem to love the suxes too

Naaa...typing it that way for all the fanbois who like to say M$ or Micro$oft....but that doesnt change my opinionn of linsux, I reaally do think it sucks.

 

[Night Hawk]

The advanced user or those who work often in the commercial office environment with Novell and Oracle for example along with general word processing become quite familar with the UNIX platform without necessarily being the one who maintains servers, network connections, OS repair, and the like. They simply use the softwares.

As for Fedora as well as Mandriva, SUSe, and some others those are server type distros to start with while other smaller distros like ubuntu, Knoppix, Puppy, kubuntu, Zenwalk are geared more for the desktop user with options for the KDE, Gnome, and other desktops as well as the various packages you can install separately there.

Linus isn't impossible to learn but takes some getting used to the difference in commands when you need to open up a console. The latest releases for the smaller ones mentioned there plus a few others have simplied things once you grow accustomed to the different layout having a choice of buttons for different menus rather then one central Start orb that brings up various items in plain view as well as the All Programs, search, Run lines as well.

Lightweight on system resources has always been one thing that kept Linux popular since you can a small distro on just about any old boat anchor while each newer version of Windows will require some form of upgrade. Unlike MS however you don't have one central point to go for updates and support.

Each distro takes you to an entirely different place for the new release, documentation, support! "Now where do I go?" is the typical confusion the novice will face. You can see where it gained the nickname "Geek's OS"!

 

[fseal]

I still dont get this,

Linux is hard to use, although it is a good OS for the Pros, its damn hard for the majority.
Though its Open source, i dont get is why cant they develop something that is more user friendly ? How hard it is to update, install, etc
Look at Microsoft 4 an example, they do have a price, but we do buy them, why ?
and being Linux free why doesnt it been used ?

Im fed up of Linux/Fedora bla bla bla in terms of its Strict Non-User Friendlyness



Would like to know the reason from anyone.

OSX is proof it CAN be done. Though technically it's a tad ugly underneith, almost like two oses in one since they had to port over behavior from the previous OSes into the BSD/Nextstep OS which was fundimentally different in almost every way. Still they did it and it didn't even take very long for a decent first pass either.

If there is someone that cares enough to do it on Linux (Toss out X entirely, write a completely new UI on top of the Linux kernel/gnu base) and has a stomach strong enough to endure the slings and arrows from the fanatics that would try to drag them down every step of the way...

But it's a huge project... a huge gamble and a huge legal headache. Might take some independant multimillionaire to do it out of interest, just for fun. Or maybe a smaller but insanely hardcore group of hardheads. Dunno but, it hasn't happened so far. I'd love to see it though.

 

[Night Hawk]

MS and Red Hat are working together on virtualization as expected for MS to get past some restrictions and to survive in certain markets. This is mostly for the server type applications seen by both MS and the GNU where that will even further extend the Linux life in the corporate world!

 

[jimbo45]

Well it's still used in specialized areas --in fact if it follows IBM mainframes it might even make something of a revival.

Old IBM Sysprogs -- start polishing your old manuals again - there's been quite a resurgence in the Mainframe area - even if your knowledge is limited to pre OS/390 (MVS, MVS/370, MVS/ESA) etc.

A lot of people are discovering the REAL cost of having huge networks with 1000's of distributed PC's all of which need to be maintained and upgraded with increasing regularity.

I'll bet most people using these forums thought the Mainframe was an idea whose time had been and gone - and look upon it as some old Industrial Dynosaur.

Cost wise and with the ability to handle HUMUNGOUS amounts of I/O in a fraction of the time of "distributed servers" these are getting very popular for large DB (Data Base) and search applications.

If an idea is good it won't go away.

Unix could be in that sort of position too as an ULTRA secure server or whatever.

(And I mean UNIX not the zillions of Linux distros out there).

Mind you with mainframes IBM is still very much in business. AT&T who were the initial instigators of Unix have long since ceased to be of any commercial value whatsoever so that Could be Unix's eventual downfall.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

Apple/Mac and SUN's Solaris are not considered Linux while those are still bases on the UNIX kernel. Linux with all it's "many flavors" sees a few mentioned that benefit from commercial application namely Red Hat distributions(server type) while the other small distros are the freebies that remain strictly open source there.

Speaking of mainframes... :roflmao:

 

[Antman]

A wise man once told me, "Get hip to UNIX."

I took his advice a step further. I hired two more people who were hip to UNIX.

They found 15 million MOU in unbilled toll records. We only collected on a portion of the usage, but the processing error was trapped and corrected, preventing future occurences.

The wise man's wife also cooked her famous mac and cheese for me one day. When dinner was served, she had forgotten to add the cheese.

 

[bjrichus]

Nighthawk...

I like the picture of lots of PC's in racks. What do you think of this collection of a few hundred of my little Dell playthings...

 

[pparks1]

Linux is hard to use, although it is a good OS for the Pros, its damn hard for the majority.

Well, there certainly is a learning curve. At the same token, most of us learned to use DOS and Windows over a long period of time. So, it makes sense that if we switched to Linux we would not learn it overnight..or even in just a few days. I've been using both for years and supporting both professionally for years. I'm just about as comfortable with either system from getting something done at this point.

Though its Open source, i dont get is why cant they develop something that is more user friendly ? How hard it is to update, install, etc

Generally speaking, installing and updating Linux can be very easy. However, where people run into problems is with the hardware that they have. Not all manufactures bother to provide drivers and information on their devices...so some are reverse engineered and others don't work at all. Contrast that to Windows, where Microsoft and the manufacturer work hand in hand....to install and support that device. You get the idea.

Second, there are tons of different linux distros and goals that each are trying to solve. So, there isn't a standard way of doing things. Windows is pretty simple in that regards, most versions since 95 have been more or less more of the same thing and you simply get what you get. This is not true at all with Linux which can be endlessly customized by whoever wants to put the time and effort into it. Therefore, things aren't going to look the same, run the same, install the same or work the same from distro to distro. It's a fact of life and something that isn't going to be changing anytime soon.

Look at Microsoft 4 an example, they do have a price, but we do buy them, why ?

Well, for starters it's almost impossible to walk into any retail chain or any major online computer retailer and not get something with Windows pre-installed. And some vendors like Dell do offer Linux options, but they often cost as much if not more than Windows as they aren't getting kick-backs from the software vendors who pay to have their crapware pre-installed.

and being Linux free why doesnt it been used ?

Lots of people stick to what came on the computer. Lots of people are used to using what they have always used. Lots of people like to use the same thing that they use at work. Lot's of people have hardware which more or less ties them into having to use Windows. Lots of people like to game and an overwhelming majority of the mainstream games are Windows only. Lots of people go into retail stores and only see software for Windows. Lots of people are unwilling to learn something else. Lots of people just settle for what everybody else is doing.

 

[Night Hawk]

Nighthawk...

I like the picture of lots of PC's in racks. What do you think of this collection of a few hundred of my little Dell playthings...

I'm afraid you would need to take that up with my Ser(vice)ver manager as well as his global advisor on that. :roflmao:

 

[chuckr]

Linux with all it's "many flavors" sees a few mentioned that benefit from commercial application namely Red Hat distributions(server type) while the other small distros are the freebies that remain strictly open source there.

Speaking of mainframes... :roflmao:

Blue Gene ::
IBM Redbooks | IBM System Blue Gene Solution: Blue Gene/P Application Development


RoadRunner :: (Last year's news...)

Computer Breaks One Petaflop Barrier:
Department of Energy - U.S. Department of Energy’s New Supercomputer is Fastest in the World

Linux ::
IBM Redbooks | IBM System Blue Gene Solution: Blue Gene/P Application Development


AMD Opteron ::

Opteron - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Intel, No Microsoft ::

TOP500 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

List as of June 2009

The following table gives the Top 10 positions of the 33rd TOP500 List released during the ISC09 conference, June 23, 2009 in Hamburg, Germany.[3]

Rank Rmax Rpeak(Tflops) Name Computer
Processor cores Maker Site
Country, Year

1 1105.00 1456.70 Roadrunner BladeCenter QS22/LS21
129600 (Cell/Opteron) IBM Los Alamos National Laboratory

United States, 2008
2 1059.00 1381.40 Jaguar Cray XT5
150152 (Opteron) Cray Oak Ridge National Laboratory

United States, 2008
3 825.50 1002.70 JUGENE Blue Gene/P Solution
294912 (Power) IBM Jülich Research Centre

Germany, 2009
4 487.01 608.83 Pleiades SGI Altix ICE 8200EX
51200 (Xeon), InfiniBand
SGI NASA/Ames Research Center

United States, 2008
5 478.20 596.38 Blue Gene/L eServer Blue Gene Solution
212992 (Power) IBM Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

United States, 2007
6 463.30 607.20 Kraken Cray XT5
66000 (Opteron)
Cray National Institute for Computational Sciences

United States, 2008
7 458.61 557.06 Intrepid[4] Blue Gene/P Solution
163840 (Power)
IBM Argonne National Laboratory

United States, 2007
8 433.20 579.38 Ranger Sun Constellation System
62976 (Opteron), Infiniband Sun Texas Advanced Computing Center

United States, 2008
9 415.70 501.35 Dawn Blue Gene/P Solution
147456 (Power) IBM Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

United States, 2009
10 274.80 308.28 JUROPA Sun Constellation System26304 (Xeon), Infiniband Bull Jülich Research Centre

Germany, 2009