

"LINUX is obsolete" - Andy Tanenbaum, 1992 - david_xia
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/comp.os.minix/wlhw16QWltI

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noonespecial
Its like a professor of classical music trying to describe why this "rock and
roll" stuff will never catch on. It just goes to show that you can be correct
and wrong at the same time.

~~~
enneff
Except that, unlike a classical music professor, the idea that Tanenbaum was
evangelizing was not popular or proven.

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buff-a
"suffice it to say that among the people who actually design operating
systems, the debate is essentially over."

A lesson for us all.

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ww520
OT: Why does the new Google Group UI have to take up 1/3 of the screen with a
FIXED header? Not everyone have a large desktop monitor. Lots of laptop users
miss 1/3 of the screen to the useless Google branding. It's really annoying.

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ilaksh
But when he wrote that stuff he was basing the "obsolete" statement on the
monolothic kernel and x86 specificity. Those key aspects of the architecture
_were_ obsolete back then.

I think when he wrote that he was right about the design being outdated.

Its just that Linux became popular and some of those design aspects like the
x86 specificity were upgraded to newer ways of doing things.

Still monolithic kernel though. But just because something works doesn't mean
that its an up-to-date design. Look at how popular fairly heavy and large PC
workstations still are today.

~~~
grimboy
Being invented more recently isn't sufficient to make something better, it
must also have compelling advantages.

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olalonde
Kind of duplicate from 2 weeks ago:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3744138>

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chimeracoder
> But in all honesty, I would suggest that people who want a __MODERN __"free"
> OS look around for a microkernel-based, portable OS, like maybe GNU or
> something like that.

The most important - and ironic - line in the entire email.

Not to start a 'Linux vs. GNU/Linux' flameware, but ironically, everything
that [most] people associate today with 'Linux' is as much a product of GNU as
it is of Linux (if not more so). Furthermore, GNU Hurd has stalled, so in a
way, Tanenbaum's reasoning was completely wrong, but his conclusion was almost
completely right!

~~~
sounds
Well, Linus did later sign: [1]

    
    
      Linus "my first, and hopefully last flamefest" Torvalds
    

Therefore this entire HN Item is flamebait - bait for flames.

The GNU project has been joined by many other allies with time-varying levels
of "closeness." I would even argue that by now, *BSD is more closely allied
with GNU/Linux than ever before.

The Free Software Foundation is generally respected for Richard Stallman's
prescient take on modern issues of freedom, privacy, and trust. [2]

[1]
[https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/comp.os.minix/wlhw16QW...](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/comp.os.minix/wlhw16QWltI/tHp9VExAcmMJ)

[2] [http://falkvinge.net/2011/06/03/stallmans-the-right-to-
read-...](http://falkvinge.net/2011/06/03/stallmans-the-right-to-read-becomes-
dreaded-insane-reality/) but a little googling will turn up many, many more

~~~
chimeracoder
> Therefore this entire HN Item is flamebait - bait for flames.

Exactly - makes you wonder about whether this applies to other 'modern'
flamewars that we still have today....

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utunga
Much as I think this whole thing is a bit unfair on Andy T.. the money quote
has to be from Ast, in his reply to Linus:

"I still maintain the point that designing a monolithic kernel in 1991 is a
fundamental error. Be thankful you are not my student. You would not get a
high grade for such a design :-)"

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jagbolanos
I found interesting that ast uses a falacy strategy on his argument,
specifically Ad verecundiam And ad hominem

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ktizo
Talking of obsolete operating systems, is gonna be fun seeing how riscos runs
in comparison to linux on those raspberry pi thingys.

