O'pain Software Foundation: (2) Why is it better than AT&T?

[Glenn Weinberg]

>In article <5085 at nsc.nsc.com>, I wrote:
>> 2) ABI's
>> 	Now, you say, "well, why doesn't everyone just sign up for an ABI,
>> 	then?"  The answer is simple: because AT&T wouldn't let them.
>> 	AT&T alone decided which vendors it would sign ABI agreements
>> 	with.
>
In article <1022 at cresswell.quintus.UUCP> ok at quintus.UUCP (Richard A. O'Keefe) writes:
>It is important to be clear about "vendors of WHAT?"
[Stuff about who has or might soon have ABIs deleted]

For generality, let's say "vendors of CPUs."  As I mentioned in my original
article, AT&T has excluded an entire class of vendors from ABI consideration.
What you have to understand is that having an official ABI involves more
than just defining a binary standard for a particular CPU architecture.
Unfortunately, you'll just have to take my word for the above because I
don't feel that I can say any more due to non-disclosure rules.  (And you
can take that for what it's worth.)

>> 	Many people have commented on the fact that OSF will be dominated
>> 	by IBM and DEC.  This shows a clear lack of understanding of
>> 	how OSF will be structured.
>Never mind the structure, who pays the bills?  Somehow I don't see IBM
>letting Apollo tell them what to do.  The giveaway as far as I am concerned
>is that

As I understand it, the bills are paid in equal shares by all the founding
members of the OSF.  The long-term goal is for the OSF to become self-funding.

>> 	Yes, it has been stated that AIX will be the base software for the
>> 	OSF version of Unix.
>I've used AIX on an RT.  Rhymes with "aches", and my word, that's appropriate.

I should restrain myself, but can't.  You could run The World's Greatest
Operating System on an RT and it wouldn't help...

>
>>	So there will be an
>> 	advantage to being a member of the OSF, but anyone can join the OSF,
>> 	unlike the ABI club, where AT&T has exclusive control over the
>> 	membership.
>
>Serious question: just _how_ is it guaranteed that anyone can join the OSF?

As far as I can tell, it's in the organization's charter.  I can't make
an absolute statement to that effect, since I haven't actually gotten
a physical copy of the charter and read it.  But that's my understanding.

-- 
Glenn Weinberg					Email: glennw at nsc.nsc.com
National Semiconductor Corporation		Phone: (408) 721-8102
(My opinions are strictly my own, but you can borrow them if you want.)