[rescue] GNU != Unix (was: PC v. PeeCees? (was: IBM hard

[Dave McGuire]

On July 14, Eric Dittman wrote:
> >   Sure they have.  But this is a slightly different problem...it's
> > software written specifically for Linux, not for UNIX...and [sometimes
> > implicitly] advertised as "portable" or "UNIX-like" software.
> 
> And before that it was SunOS, x.yBSD, SxRy, etc.  Expecting
> portability to a different Un*x platform for a program written
> on another Un*x platform is wishful thinking.

  Oh yes, absolutely...I had to deal with tons of it in those days too.
I believe very strongly, though, that the problem is much, much worse
now...even taking into account the much larger base of free software
floating around.

> Poor testing and lazy programming have plagued the Un*x world
> for a long time, for all distributions and kernels (think of
> all the buffer-overrun exploits that still show up).

  This is hardly limited to the UNIX world, though.  Look at
Microsoft.

     -Dave

-- 
Dave McGuire                  "Needing a calculator indicates that
St. Petersburg, FL              your .emacs file is incomplete." -Joshua Boyd