Q:Where do you see the future of computing going? Will it continue to be dominated by companies that are essensially monopolies, or will these monopolies fall apart? Here in Bakersfield we are seeing several companies lose money because they bet that Microsoft's products would be adopted universally. Now we are seeing free Unix implementations taking over what once was dominated by Microsoft and Novell. Comments? Anonymous
A:Free Unix apps (GNU, Linux, Free BSD, etc.) are a factor only in small or vertical markets. Those companies in Bakersfield must have written some pretty darned obscure applications.
I wonder how Mr. Cringely views have changed since he wrote this.
Not only that, but there are numerous Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC computers where the entries on either side of them have at least one order of magnitude more processors. What are those sneaky Japanese up to?
And the pressing question is whether next year we can expect to see a Transmeta-based supercomputer in the top 500.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, here's from his TotN Q&A column:
Q:Where do you see the future of computing going? Will it continue to be dominated by companies that are essensially monopolies, or will these monopolies fall apart? Here in Bakersfield we are seeing several companies lose money because they bet that Microsoft's products would be adopted universally. Now we are seeing free Unix implementations taking over what once was dominated by Microsoft and Novell. Comments?
Anonymous
A:Free Unix apps (GNU, Linux, Free BSD, etc.) are a factor only in small or vertical markets. Those companies in Bakersfield must have written some pretty darned obscure applications.
I wonder how Mr. Cringely views have changed since he wrote this.
Not only that, but there are numerous Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC computers where the entries on either side of them have at least one order of magnitude more processors. What are those sneaky Japanese up to?
And the pressing question is whether next year we can expect to see a Transmeta-based supercomputer in the top 500.