Binary Compatibility 80286

[Doug Gwyn <gwyn>]

> Everyone seems to be missing the point here.

No, we're not.  Those of us who think of UNIX as an
operating system and not as a marketplace appreciate
its freedom from machine architectural constraints.

Source-level portability, which is the best that can
be achieved across all UNIX implementations, does not
imply that a software house has to ship sources to
customers.  More likely, the software house merely
needs to compile their sources into the appropriate
binary for the target machine and ship off the binary.
This need not even imply running the particular target
systems; cross-targeted software generation systems can
be used.  I routinely compile code for my DMD on a host
with a totally different architecture.

There is no more reason to insist on binary standards
for the mass market than there is to insist that all
ball-point pen refills be interchangeable.  Multiple
brands can coexist, and the ones that prove popular
will receive wide support.  I think this is known as
the free market principle.