From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Message-Id: <200409030210.i832A4J17819@augusta.math.psu.edu>
To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@cse.psu.edu>
Subject: Re: [9fans] UN to fund linux for the 3rd world 
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 02 Sep 2004 00:15:32 CDT."
	<1CDE98AA-FC9F-11D8-8DA0-003065E1714E@corpus-callosum.com> 
Date: Thu,  2 Sep 2004 22:10:03 -0400
From: Dan Cross <cross@math.psu.edu>
Topicbox-Message-UUID: dcc846d4-eacd-11e9-9e20-41e7f4b1d025

Jeff Sickel <jas@corpus-callosum.com> writes:
> That's a good thing... lead/graphite doesn't wash away with 
> water/salts/acids as easily.

It also won't mark on a laminated map, which makes land nav with one
hard.  It also sucks when it breaks out in the field; sharpening a #2
pencil with a ka-bar is an interesting challenge.  Everyone ends up
taking pen anyway.

> For the larger picture: would folks at the UN even know that BSD, let 
> alone Plan 9, exists?  I'd wager they don't as even people who have 
> been exposed to alternative operating systems are likely to have never 
> even heard of them.  Linux, for better or worse, has mindset 
> market-share because people have been throwing enough money into the 
> advertising realm to make the name/brand known.
> 
> To quote/paraphrase an old friend's words:
> 
> Microsoft learned long ago that it was better to spend a dollar on 
> marketing than on development.

I think you're absolutely right.  That's what I find so depressing....

	- Dan C.