Re: I Have Seen the Glory

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@omegacs.net>]

> I think I have seen SEUL and it might really be called BeOS.
Nope.  BeOS is not free.  SEUL will fill the niche that no other OS has, or 
can: a freely available OS that is more powerful than anything else widely 
available (BeOS excepted, possibly).

Linux embodies the ideal that free software *works*, and while I don't have 
anything against BeOS, I hope that Linux (hopefully in the form of SEUL) 
takes over the majority of all desktop and workstation machines, as it is 
well on its way to doing in the server market.

Also, as Aldo's pointed out, there are places all over the world where they
can scrounge up enough hardware to squeak by (say, doing statistics on
weather and crops somewhere in Africa), but there is no way they can pay for
the software to actually do anything.  Many more organizations exist where
buying one more copy of Office98 means turning away someone who desperately
needs the services this organization provides.  If free software were only 
to help cases like that, IMO it would be more than worth it.

(sorry for the philosophical interlude... :)

> It looks like Be on the desktop and Linux for the servers might be a smart
> move.
For some sites that may be a good idea.  It depends on how the market 
responds to Be, and when SEUL is ready, how the market responds to us.

If Be does gain popularity, some effort should be put into making sure 
Linux and BeOS interoperate nicely, possibly to the extent of binary 
compatibility or emulation.  It all depends on what's out there when the 
time comes to decide.


     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
        __
       /  \                SEUL: Simple End-User Linux -
      |    | M E G A            Creating a Linux distribution
      _\  /_                         for the home or office user


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