OSNews

I also hope that it does repeat the successes of current operative systems - too often, people write new OS to "fix the problems of UNIX" and then they fall in the stupid error of avoiding everything that looks like Unix, even if it's good (and there're a lot of good things in unix).

That said, if a OS like Plan9 isn't getting mainstream, I very much doubt any other research OS will have better success.

Edited 2007-08-16 18:49

i kinda recall plan9 not being free (in both sense of the word) until recently. so im not surprised that it didnt go mainstream.

still, there seems to be more and more stuff from it showing up in linux. i recall reading about p9fs or whatever its called, and maybe that network protocol to.

Edited 2007-08-16 19:16

According to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plan_9_from_Bell_Labs

Its opensource and released under the Lucent OpenSource Licence.

As for its lack there of success, it really hasn't marketed itself, its hardware support is lacking, and the availability of software is also lacking.

Edited 2007-08-16 21:01

yes, now it is, but i wasn't until the late '90s-'00s that it became open/gratis.

True, but there needs to be a momentum started - but quite honestly I don't think computers in the traditional sense are all that exciting; the future is mobility, that is where the focus should be; we will still need operating systems like Solaris/Linux but the big money and focus will be on multifunctional devices like smart mobile phones etc.

and there you also find linux.

hell, i picked up a cheap nokia 770 "web tablet" not to long ago, running linux.

and here is a article about how linux came to appear on mobile phones:
http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2590177877.html

hell, im using pidgin (formerly gaim) as the im client on my 770. the same im client thats part of the gnome desktop iirc. to me that shows the power of open source, and the moldabillity of the linux "ecosystem".

when you have that kind of portability things get interesting to say the least

"""