Re. [Oberon] PC Makers Hit Speed Bumps - Oberon opportunity

[Douglas G. Danforth]

Linux is a collaborative effort that built on an existing
unix base (e.g. SUN OS, IBM AIX, ...).  Oberon did not and does 
not have that base.

I must admit that I do not understand why the (seemingly) inferior
almost always wins out. 

If the C language had been developed somewhere other than Bell Labs 
would it have suceeded?  Politics and momentum frequently overpower quality.  
One needs a very strong advocate who is willing to weather the storm to
bring forth what should be "as simple as possible".

-Doug

Frank Copeland wrote:
> 
> On Thu, Oct 03, 2002 at 07:02:57PM +0200, eas-lab at absamail.co.za wrote:
> 
> > For us, linux is important:
> > *  to see how dispersed collaboration can/can't work,
> > * possibly copy some of it's openly available algorithms/ideas,
> > * coming later has the advantage: we can also learn what NOT to do.
> 
> I think you will find that your idea of who came later is mistaken. The
> Oberon project dates from the 1980s; "Project Oberon" places it in the
> years 1986-1989. "Project Oberon" itself was published in 1992. The
> Oberon-2 language report is dated 1993.
> 
> The initial public release of the linux kernel was in late 1991.
> According to
> <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/debian/chapter/ch01_02.html> the first
> really usable linux OS dates from 1992, a good 3-5 years after the
> Oberon System became a practical OS. However, if you count the
> publication of "Project Oberon" as the public release of Oberon, then
> they are pretty much contemporaries.
> 
> Oberon started as an academic research project and after 15 years
> that's pretty much what it still is. Linux started off as a student's
> hobby project and after 10 years it is now a serious competitor to
> every other major OS.
> 
> So who do you think has worked out what NOT to do?
> 
> Frank
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