Unix and XyWrite

[Robert Holmgren holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to note from xywrite@xxxxxxxx Sun, 8 Nov 1998 11:01:43 +0000

> The question remains: anyone using Xywrite under Linux DOS emulation?

I ran it for maybe six months steady on a Red Hat 4.0 machine, under DOSEMU.
Worked very well. It has trouble operating in a world that completely disregards
8.3 naming conventions, but otherwise its fine. I always was
surprised when I shelled out of it that I was running Linux. Then the hard disk crashed, it
wasn't backed up, and I had to buy a new HD -- never reinstalled. The truth is, I just like
OS/2 better than Linux. OS/2, at this stage, is so thoroughly debugged,
especially the Workplace Shell, that Linux (and the unmentionable
"multitasking" W##) aren't competitive. Like Linux, OS/2 has a great
command line persona, combined with a great graphical shell (what Windoze
wants to be). Still, I'm enormously attracted to the Linux "idea", which
seems to me so like a Xydea, of people contributing, for free, to create a
free product that does what its users want. That's really great, that's the
way "personal computing" was envisioned 15 and 25 years ago, before the
assholes in big business moved to control PC software. Anyone who retains
kindly feelings toward MicroSoft should take a look at the leaked internal
MS docs that are floating around, which MS admits are genuine, that analyze
the threat posed by GNU's General Public License (the "CopyLeft") and
outlines the steps MS can take to crush Free Software Foundation, Open
Source, etc.:
 http://www.opensource.org/halloween.html
A good summary of the incident appeared in Manchester Guardian this
morning:
 http://reports.guardian.co.uk/articles/1998/11/8/32026.html

Apropos of nothing, but while it crosses my mind, I think Nathan does a
great job administering this forum. I suspect that the list doesn't just
"run by itself", that intercession is necessary and frequent -- and Nathan
does this (instead of you or me, for which I'm plenty thankful).





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Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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