Re: Informix running on Linux

On Tue, 29 Apr 1997 10:33:24 -0500, Richard Stanford <richards@herald.net> wrote: >One main problem here -- the inherent differences between Linux installations. Not a 'main problem' at all actually ... as someone else mentioned, isn't Informix distributed as a big tar file anyway on their CDs? So a tar'd distribution that comes with an open spec shouldn't be that difficult... > >IMO, the biggest pain would not be porting Online to Linux, but supporting >it once its there. Wouldn't Informix's existing support structure be enough? Linux is POSIX compliant, and most of the distributions use a Linux kernel bundled with GNUware ... there are several newsgroups catering to Linux alone. >Since Linux is in flux so much of the time, this would >be very difficult indeed. What 'flux' do you refer to? And how does this 'flux' make the porting process difficult? Here's a thought for you skeptics. Ray Noorda, the ex-President of Novell, who carried Novell thru their purchase of AT&T Unix, etc, ran Novell into its highest earnings, - after he resigned from Novell - he put the money from The Noorda Family Trust into Linux, aka Caldera. Now Caldera is releasing several distributions of Linux AND a freeware DOS (aka Digital Research/Novell DOS 7). This from a small startup company with a little vision. So if you want a commercial Linux, there are several now, complete with support contracts, etc. I would take the risk of saying that I think you now have a much wider install base of Linux now than there ever was of SCO, AT&T et al. Maybe, maybe not ... but the Linux thing has already changed the landscape to the point that SCO and Sun both have had to reduce the pricing on their x86 products. SCO - imagine them having to give away their os now! Serves them right after gouging for so long ... that and their pitiful phone support. Just my .02 -tks-