Re: [9fans] So What is P9 good for.....

["rob pike, esq." <rob@mightycheese.com>]

> Why do YOU use Plan 9 and not Linux/FreeBSD?

Despite all the cool features I like to show off when I give a demo,
the thing that most consistently drops jaws is the speed of
compilation.  Two seconds elapsed time to build the window system, for
example.  If you write software for a living, that sort of speed can
be a huge advantage.  But where does the speed come from?  Mostly from
the way the software is written, from the approach the system takes.
It's not something you can easily copy or port to another environment.
I can (and often do) run many compilations working on some Plan 9
software during the dead time waiting for a Linux program to build.  I
remember comparing VNC for someone recently.  It took many minutes to
build the Linux vnc package from the web.  I got bored waiting,
mentioned it to a colleague, he said so what?  I went to the Plan 9
vnc directory, built the client and server in a few seconds, had a
nice conversation on this point, and went back to waiting for the
Linux vnc to build.  And that example we're talking about two
versions *of the same application*.

And in that case, Plan 9 was at a huge disadvantage because it was
running on the same Linux machine under vmware.

Modern machines have two and three gigahertz processors. They
should be able to build software hundreds of times faster than a
decade ago.  Why don't they?  Ah, but with Plan 9, they do.

-rob