Re: IRIX freeware releases
From: SkyWriter (skywriter_at_mrnutty.com)
Date: 11/30/03
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Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 04:52:55 GMT
Ivan Rayner wrote:
> SkyWriter <skywriter@mrnutty.com> wrote:
> > Ivan Rayner wrote:
> >> - features, hardware support and improvements are being added to IRIX
> >> at every quartlery release. You're not missing out on stuff.
> >
> > like IP22 support
>
> Do you really expect SGI to support ancient hardware into perpetuity?
well, 10 yearrs is pretty good, unlike crimson which was um... significantly
less.
anyway, how well did DEC do on VMS platforms?
>
>
> >> - renumbering IRIX from 6.5 to 7 buys us little and will in fact cost
> >> SGI a whole lot to have it requalified with various standards and
> >> applications.
> >
> > but coming out with several lines of failed peecee platforms cost nothing,
> > i guess.
>
> Ah, now that is an entirely different topic... All companies try things
> and fail. The PC experience did lead to the Altix which is an impressive
> machine. (As for the Windows PC experiment, the less said the better :)
yes, well the trick NOT to try things that fail. given SGI's need for high
profit
product lines the peecee's never made sense.
it might have lead engineering to altix, but certainly not your customers...
or did they, never mind, i probably won't believe it.
>
>
> >> - SGI has decided that the IRIX 6.5 compatibility guarantee is a good
> >> thing for its customers, and renumbering it to 7 would imply breaking
> >> that guarantee.
> >
> > yes, lets save 7 for eol of IRIX, so after years of 6.5.25... 6.5.75 it
> > looks like the linux development cycle, and customers are used to that.
>
> Is there a point here?
it's subtle...
>
>
> >> - and certainly there is a roadmap for IRIX which covers things like
> >> future features, other major work and hardware support.
> >
> > like uh... fixing mediarecord? or ah... upgrading opengl past 1.1?
> > nah.....
>
> I have no insight into what features get "fixed" and what don't. I do
> know that it all comes down to priorities, allocation of resources and
> what makes SGI money... Would you have it any other way?
absolutely not. but then again, i am not in the market for 15k workstations,
and i've seen a lot of products that don't make SGI money, and a lot of
quarters
that SGI didn't make money.
however not upgrading opengl is a big drawback. it makes my projects i help
out with much more difficult, as cross platform pressure is to up the opengl
version.,
although the opengl implementation is much better on IRIX
>
>
> >> - releasing a new "version" of an OS is a marketing decision for all
> >> vendors, not a technical one. There are very few actual new OSes
> >> that actually deserve being labelled as a new version. OS X is
> >> probably as close to a new OS as we've seen for some time, at least
> >> from the customer's point of view. XP is as relatively close to NT
> >> as IRIX 6.5.23 is to 6.5 base.
> >
> > i don't know. some vendors roll out new OS version when they make
> > major upgrades to it either to bring new software or hardware products
> > to market, and that's generally a technical reason.
> > staying at 6.5.x sounds more like stagnation....
>
> We bring plenty of new hardware to market under the 6.5 name. We add
> plenty of new features under the 6.5 name. Renumbering 6.5.24 to IRIX
> 7 wont automatically get you a fancy new desktop...
>
my belief is that 'if you can see the desktop you're not working hard enough'
so, you can bag all this GNOME KDE CDE crap. indigo magic is fine for me.
>
> Admittedly there are a bunch of little fixes we could do if we were
> prepared to break compatibility, but they simply aren't worth it.
acceptable, albiet i'll take your word for what they are.
>
>
> >> - and finally, not changing the OS willy-nilly is a good thing.
> >> Software stability and performance comes over time, as it matures.
> >> XP is much better than NT, not because it is a new version, but
> >> because it is mostly the same version with a bucket-load of bugs and
> >> performance issues fixed.
> >
> > well, i DO admit there isn't one damn reason i would run anything other
> > than irix. because frankly, it IS the most stable and easy to use unix OS
> > I've used, as well as most others... except poor TOPS-20... (boohoo).
>
> Ah, another satisfied customer. :)
>
always! i buy more than my fair share :-) and damn proud of it.
>
> Ivan
> --
> Ivan Rayner
> ivanr@sgi.com
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