Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!rutgers!att!ihnp4!ihlpe!res From: res@ihlpe.ATT.COM (Rich Strebendt) Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: IBM's influence on OSF (Re: AT&T Joining OSF) Summary: BUUUUUUUULL ROAR !!! Keywords: flame, personal opinion and observation Message-ID: <3345@ihlpe.ATT.COM> Date: 16 Aug 88 17:38:22 GMT References: <347@spies.UUCP> <670025@hpclscu.HP.COM> <4459@cbmvax.UUCP> <384@halley.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories - Naperville, Illinois Lines: 29 In article <384@halley.UUCP>, bc@halley.UUCP (Bill Crews) writes: > By the way, before the IBM PC, it was typical for a system to trash the > contents of a diskette when it powered up. Also, the MTBF was *very* low. > Also, we had CP/M to enjoy. Whatever you may think about DOS, CP/M is > certainly much worse (like, swapping diskettes without remembering to warm boot > first and goodbye diskette contents). It may not have been *radical* change, > but it was a big step forward in that it took personal computing out of the > hobby market and enabled the existence of a business market. Bull roar. I have an 8-year old Radio Shack Model II. It has not trashed a disk since I first powered it up. The TRSDOS operating system is not terribly exciting from a modern perspective, but it was quite adequate to the jobs I had for the machine to do. The MTBF of this machine is measured in years (one trip to the shop in 8 years!). It will also boot up under CP/M, which I use occasionally to take advantage of some Public Domain software and the Infocom games. I DO enjoy working with CP/M, grandparent (in concept, at least) to most of the succeeding DOS's. TRSDOS on the Model II is quite able to detect a disk change and to gripe about it if subsequent access to that disk (to open files) is needed. For many small business and government customers, the Model II was indeed their introduction to business data processing on a desk-top. The initials I-B-M gave respectability to this market largely because of the amount of press they got by entering this, already existing and growing, market. Rich Strebendt ...!att![iwsl6|ihlpe|ihaxa]!res