What alternative do you propose for using it as a workstation and running a CAD package? (And please don't say Linux... of course, you can, but for good reasons, some people will use Solaris to run their apps).
My apologies on vagueness. I was thinking more along the lines of "weenie" apps used at/for home, e.g. Word, RandomRecipeProgram, and other so-called "user friendly" apps. People doing CAD on Solaris are the "hard-core" type I was talking about (serious CAD on W98? Perhaps NT, but I'd still laugh). To me, it seemed that MicroSoft was insinuating that Solaris is also intended to be just word-processing web-browsing platform, or whatever other piddling task W98 does. I'm quite aware Solaris can be used as a desktop OS, but not in same sense as W98, which MicroSoft also seemed to be implying.
I guess my point is that Solaris and W98 aren't even in the same league to fairly compare prices (-to-performance ratio).
Anyone who suffers in the free market just isn't working hard enough. Its called survival of the fittest.
MS is fit.
That last statement seems to imply that MicroSoft is in a free market. I'll have to dig out an econ textbook and look up "free market" again. I don't quite remember all the requirements for a free market.
From the cnet news.com article: Windows 98 upgrade sells for about $88 while IBM's OS/2 Warp upgrade is $149 and Sun's Solaris 2.6 Intel operating system is $380, Microsoft said.
Something must be screwed up in my head. Last time I check, Windows 98 was/is designed for personal use (NT supposedly for the networked business environment, but that's another story). I don't know; maybe this Slashdot articlefive months ago (doesn't "sells" indicate the present, as in "a lot sooner than a week ago"?) about Solaris 2.6 (Solaris 6?) being free ("free beer") for personal use (except for the $15~$40 shipping & handling costs) were just illusions and figments of my imagination.
Also, why is W98 upgrade compared to OS/2 upgrade and to full Solaris 6? (For that matter, I don't know anyone that would use Solaris 6 as a mere desktop OS unless they're totally hard-core. Server, I can understand, but personal desktop?)
As much as I hate to say it, any OS that runs on 90%+ of the desktop computers in the world cannot be considered "non-standard". Propriatary, perhaps, but it is also a standard.
I keep hearing this statistic about how Windows runs on 90+% of desktop computers.
For some reason, I find it very difficult to find any numbers indicating what percetage of world computers are classified as desktop computers... I dunno, maybe I'm wrong to think that maybe MicroSoft's stuff runs on a minority of the world's computers, but I can't find anything to confirm nor deny.
Slashdot Mirror
My apologies on vagueness. I was thinking more along the lines of "weenie" apps used at/for home, e.g. Word, RandomRecipeProgram, and other so-called "user friendly" apps. People doing CAD on Solaris are the "hard-core" type I was talking about (serious CAD on W98? Perhaps NT, but I'd still laugh). To me, it seemed that MicroSoft was insinuating that Solaris is also intended to be just word-processing web-browsing platform, or whatever other piddling task W98 does. I'm quite aware Solaris can be used as a desktop OS, but not in same sense as W98, which MicroSoft also seemed to be implying.
I guess my point is that Solaris and W98 aren't even in the same league to fairly compare prices (-to-performance ratio).
That last statement seems to imply that MicroSoft is in a free market. I'll have to dig out an econ textbook and look up "free market" again. I don't quite remember all the requirements for a free market.
Windows 98 upgrade sells for about $88 while IBM's OS/2 Warp upgrade is $149 and Sun's Solaris 2.6 Intel operating system is $380, Microsoft said.
Something must be screwed up in my head. Last time I check, Windows 98 was/is designed for personal use (NT supposedly for the networked business environment, but that's another story). I don't know; maybe this Slashdot article five months ago (doesn't "sells" indicate the present, as in "a lot sooner than a week ago"?) about Solaris 2.6 (Solaris 6?) being free ("free beer") for personal use (except for the $15~$40 shipping & handling costs) were just illusions and figments of my imagination.
Also, why is W98 upgrade compared to OS/2 upgrade and to full Solaris 6? (For that matter, I don't know anyone that would use Solaris 6 as a mere desktop OS unless they're totally hard-core. Server, I can understand, but personal desktop?)
I keep hearing this statistic about how Windows runs on 90+% of desktop computers.
For some reason, I find it very difficult to find any numbers indicating what percetage of world computers are classified as desktop computers... I dunno, maybe I'm wrong to think that maybe MicroSoft's stuff runs on a minority of the world's computers, but I can't find anything to confirm nor deny.