AT&T Archives: The UNIX Operating System

[LoadWB]

I used Solaris on a previous job. Ii I remember correctly I had a Sunblade 1500. Really cool machines! And good looking too

I was so happy when I learned about the OpenSolaris project. This project was being promoted by Sun. The OS had some really nice features like Dtrace and the ZFS file system with a "time machine" so you can take snapshop of files and such.

So what happened to this obvious superior OS with a bright future? Oracle happened... After Oracle bought Sun nothing happened with OpenSolaris. It was quiet. And then Oracle decided to pull the plug. OpenSolaris died. I'm still not over this...

I very much enjoy Solaris.  Working with Solaris Zones is pretty cool.  Oracle has phuqd it up.  I can't get them to call me back for support licenses for my x64 machines.  Aggravating because you can't download Recommended Clusters without a support contract, anymore.  Thankfully I don't expose any native services to the Internet and compile my own stuff, but that doesn't protect me from local elevation exploits.

One thing I really love about Solaris is all the skript kiddies who try to plant and execute binaries by way of poorly programmed PHP sites: those binaries are always Linux.  Of course, marking certain file systems as non-executable helps, too.

Screw you, Oracle.  Solaris is dead; Long live Solaris!

[LoadWB]

Okay, I've heard multiple takes on this issue, but it's a fair point that it's not so clear-cut based on it. Regardless, it's certainly not based on Unix.

I ignored his Wikipedia articles and went here, instead.

Windows NT and VMS: The Rest of the Story | Windows Client content from Windows IT Pro
http://windowsitpro.com/windows-client/windows-nt-and-vms-rest-story

And for the OS/2 tie-in:

IBM insider: How I caught my wife while bug-hunting on OS/2 • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/23/why_os2_failed_part_one/

Where were the bullet holes on OS/2's corpse? Its head ... or foot? • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/26/os2_final_fail/

And some interesting history for those who have time to waste:

OS/2 a quarter century on: Why IBM lost out and how Microsoft won • The Register
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/27/the_os_wars_os2_25years_old/

[LoadWB]

SCO did appear to negotiate and pay for those rights & were under the impression they owned them. It seems they got stiffed.

Thank $_DIETY.  SCO is worse than Microsoft could ever be in terms of its business practices.  To this day I do not understand how it can get away with suing the END USER of software which supposedly violates patents and/or copyrights.
 

Awesome argument, one second it's bad for copying and the next it's bad for not copying. While there are many reasons for hating Microsoft at a corporate level, some of their products are actually good. Windows 8 is much better than any Linux I've ever used.

Boy!  Dem's fightin' words!  Seriously, though, I suppose I would rank Windows 8 above the latest Ubuntu releases (my upgrade from 10 to 12 was a huge WTF moment.)  I'll be installing the preview release of Windows 8.1 to see how it's improved, but for my own purposes I won't be going past Windows 7 after I finally drop XP x64.  I trialed Windows 8 at several of my clients and they threatened me with bodily injury if I deployed any 8 machines.

[LoadWB]

It has been said that WNT== V++ M++ S++

There's some play on a product and IBM, IIRC.  Urban legends are fun.

From what I remember NT design was inspired by the VMS design in the same way the BSD design was inspired by UNIX.  Similar but not the same.

Cutler did things with Windows NT that Digital wouldn't allow him to do with VMS.  As I recall, this would not be the first time in history a company lost an employee or engineer because it wouldn't allow a certain product implementation.  The venerable old Z80 came about in similar fashion as Intel was difficult to push in certain directions.

http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/access/text/Oral_History/102658073.05.01.acc.pdf