Matt Heath wrote in response to Chris's outside-the-box challenge:

> I use plan9 as my development platform as it is a delight to use.
>
> Don't expect eye candy, it is an OS to get work done.


If the subject is competing in the domain of Gates and Jobs, then the notion
of a computer is subsumed by the concept of media appliance. Even in the
workplace where an OS exists to get work done, colorful skins and simple
clickable interfaces sell, while practical command-driven interfaces don't.

The open source community is big enough to support those who don't want eye
candy and those who do; those who like to build tools and those who enjoy
the sport of the media marketplace. The two groups need to respect each
other.

Chris's audience, the marketplace sports fans who would rather be
participants in the game, ought to start with the question, "What are the
vulnerabilities of the players with dominant market share?" It turns out
that there are huge vulnerabilities. There always are. (Remember when IBM
was invincible? Remember how in the midst of that consensus IBM hit the
wall? Then remember how VAX/VMS was unstoppable?) Success breeds blindness,
revenue model lock-in, and other vulnerabilities.

Where am I going with all this?

Read my forthcoming book.

Wes Kussmaul


----- Original Message -----
From: "Matt Heath" <matt@thebigchoice.com>
To: "Chris" <racerx@makeworld.com>
Cc: <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>; <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>;
<misc@openbsd.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 3:59 AM
Subject: Re: Think outside of the box (Gawd, I hate that term)


> don't worry, we're working on it
>
> http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/
>
> Theo occasionally pops by to comp.os.plan9 (last time to "discuss"
licences)
> (he coverts the plan9 compilers)
>
> plan9 is an OS research platform
>
> some of it's tools have been kind of back-ported to the unix likes
> (wily, 9wm)
>
> I use plan9 as my development platform as it is a delight to use.
>
> Don't expect eye candy, it is an OS to get work done.
>
> m
>
>
> >Guys (and gals)
> >
> > As great as the *BSD's are - why are we not thinking ahead of the curve?
> >Outside of the box? What do I mean? Well - why not develope our OS's to
run
> >on an arch. that isn't out yet - MAKE that new arch. just like Gates did
so
> >many years ago. He defined the x86 market - why can't we do the same?
> >
> > With all the thinkers out there (Jordan, Theo) wouln't that be thebetter
way
> >to go?
> >
> >Just a thought - and willing to confess, I have zero clue how to get
there.
> >But, we need to get there.
>
>