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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (17882)	7/15/1999 5:43:00 PM
From: Stormweaver	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

I guess the key thread running through our discussion is which one is more open. x86 provides a greater variety of software/hardware vendors therefore it is more open. By how much ... I would say significantly, as a result I occasionally chant about UNIX iron being proprietary. DOS/BIOS interrupts as a programming API haven't been needed in a long time. Since 1988 or so Borland, MSFT, and others have provided ANSI C and additional libraries for developers. DOS as a command interpreter is very similar to the current UNIX shell and is not needed (since Windows 3.0) by NT/98 thanks to the plethera of UI admin/navigation interfaces available. The UNIX shell however is still required on every UNIX OS other than possible AIX where they have developed the most advanced sys admin tool. Regarding windows portability, I can still run my 16 bit compiled Turbo C application (compiled in 1991) on Windows 98 right now. It's backward compatible although there are some interface caveats that may have changed; just as Solaris has. Win32 is proprietary in that MSFT decides it's destiny. This has been a good thing since they are not accountable to a committee to evolve the interface; quick evolution cycle. The time has probably come though to make it a standard so that 3rd party vendors can freely create implementations for other operating systems; something the DOJ may do in October.