Messages in this thread | | | Subject | [getting offtopic] This i2o business | From | Andy Berkheimer <> | Date | Fri, 18 Jul 1997 19:37:23 +0500 |
| |
Sorry to sound arrogant here, but of the people in the i2o discussion, how many of you have actually gone and read through the entire i2o site? While many of the points being brought up here are valid, many others are not, at least not just from what I can get from the site.
But my main point is that from reading through their material, especially the question and answer section (http://www.i2osig.org/QandA.html), the main thrust of the i2o spec is aimed at your big massive "enterprise" servers, not desktop computers or workstations. While a significant threat to the idea of free software, it isn't exactly a direct threat to the average Joe computer user as many here seem to be making it out to be. Two specific facts from the Q and A that are giving me this idea:
a) one question relates to what software is planning to support it in the near future. And the answer: NT and Novell. And _just_ NT. Not Win95, Win97, etc.
b) one of the questions is "Is I2O applicable to the desktop PC? What about workstations?" and the answer: "The SIG anticipates that initial target for products will be those for enterprise computing, which currently faces the largest I/O bottleneck. It's certainly possible to use I2O in desktop and workstation designs. For example, there has been interest from WS vendors who need system throughput to accommodate graphics and other applications." while not ruling out PCs, this doesn't exactly give me the impression that they intend to transform all PCs to conform to this spec in the near future.
I'm not trying to say that i2o is a good thing at all...I totally agree that I would be a much happier person if it ceased to exist. However, I was just worried about some of the claims flying around this list (especially the bit about setting up an anti-i2o web page and talking to journalists) were led more by impulse reaction than by actually researching what exactly this i2o thing is.
If we go out proclaiming that i2o is evil, spewing a well-spun conspiracy tale saying that it's only true purpose is to personally screw over the free software community, then most of the rest of the world is going to see us the same way most view UFO fanatics, etc: as complete and utter, extremely bitter, fools with nothing better to do with our time than make headaches for everyone. If nothing else, we definitely wouldn't be taken seriously if we took that approach.
Think and research before you act. If you think I've misinterpreted the information, don't hesitate to correct me. But don't make facts up out of your opinions either.
(side note: I'm not making any proclamations about the sanity of UFO fanatics or whatever, for all you know I may very well be an alien :)
-- Andy Berkheimer andy@tho.org
| |