Re: [tlug] Unix's 40th Birthday

[Curt Sampson <cjs@example.com>]

On 2009-08-21 12:36 +0900 (Fri), Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> Nonetheless, it is important to note that "runs the Internet" can also
> be interpreted in terms of the control system that manages the
> switches, diagnoses faults, and generates reports.  

Yup. But that, too, in EOS appears to be userland programs that use no
special Linux capabilities, and could just as easily run on QNX.

> I think that's a very interesting viewpoint, and that Unix has a very
> prominent role there.

Well, that's true enough; Unix does appear to have an edge over Windows
as the platform chosen for running network management software. But back
in my day (in the 90s) the edge was shrinking, what with HP OpenView
being ported to Windows and all. I don't know where things stand these
days.

But most of these sorts of apps, again, don't care so much about the
OS, so long as it will let them send packets to the hardware they're
managing.

I'm not sure that there was ever a day when when people used
general-purpose computers and operating systems for non-trival routing
applications. Even the original IMP[1] had specialized hardware added to
it, and used specialized software.

[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interface_Message_Processor

cjs
-- 
Curt Sampson       <cjs@example.com>        +81 90 7737 2974
           Functional programming in all senses of the word:
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