Re: Does anyone else think Wolfram Research are unfair to Unixusers?
- From: none <none@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:56:39 +0100
On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 23:37:07 +0100, Dave wrote:
Unix software was historically free, and to a good extent still is free.
At the most basic level, the operating system is often free (i.e. Linux
and Solaris), whereas Windows is not free.
That *might* make people less inclined to pay for such software on Unix
than they would on Windows, where most useful software has to be paid for.
There is an expectation on Unux for software to be free, but an
expectation for it to be paid for on Windows. I realise this is a bit of
a simplification, so I'm not suggesting it will hold in every case.
Interesting, as for *Unix*, as against Linux, my experience was that most
software was not only commercial, but expensive - and the companies
refusedt o port to PCs for a long time, arguing that DOS, then Windows
3.1, was not up to handling the memory requirements, while the PC lacked
the floating point speed. What software? CFD, wastewater process
simulation, river modelling, sewer modelling, coastal modelling. What
prices were they looking at? CFD wanted £10,000 annual licence;
wastewater processes wanted £25,000 + 15% annual licence thereafter; the
various hydraulic packages were also steep, in the £8,000 - £30,000
area.
It may be that 'Computer Science' types were expecting free software;
engineers were not! As for Unix being 'free', that was because it was tied
to not-so-cheap hardware, in exactly the same way as most buyers of PCs,
for a long time, regarded DOS/Windows as 'free'. *Linux* was really the
start of the revolution. Sun & their competitors were not offering
Solaris, ?Iris?, etc., as platforms for open-source products.
.
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