From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me
X-Spam-Level: 
X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00
	autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4
Path: 
 eternal-september.org!reader01.eternal-september.org!reader02.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!mx02.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: "Jeffrey R. Carter" <spam.jrcarter.not@spam.not.acm.org>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
Subject: Re: Could you write a BSD like os in ADA?
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 16:55:58 -0700
Organization: Also freenews.netfront.net; news.tornevall.net;
 news.eternal-september.org
Message-ID: <ngts7q$pla$1@dont-email.me>
References: <79e591f0-3c3e-42b2-ad1f-3e59a031531e@googlegroups.com>
 <ng9l30$rc9$1@gioia.aioe.org> <ngqr34$c98$1@loke.gir.dk>
 <ngqtri$36t$1@dont-email.me> <ngtlrf$imh$1@loke.gir.dk>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 23:52:28 -0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: mx02.eternal-september.org;
 posting-host="48b46be33beed75863f69afa437f956b";
	logging-data="26282"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";
	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18/9Q4eoBCy2XihK2dAfvhOksMrrWVI/wc="
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101
 Thunderbird/45.0
In-Reply-To: <ngtlrf$imh$1@loke.gir.dk>
Cancel-Lock: sha1:gdV1eRlUBWDRJrbHiRyy6/djMow=
Xref: news.eternal-september.org comp.lang.ada:30382
Date: 2016-05-10T16:55:58-07:00
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

On 05/10/2016 03:03 PM, Randy Brukardt wrote:
>
> Exactly my point: if you want anyone to replace those (generally used
> because they're easy, cheap, and "good enough"), you have to provide
> something much better. (As the iPhone did to the smartphone market, for
> example). Making yet another copy of Unix isn't going to provide much
> interest (or value).

This is subjective, but at the time the iPhone came out, the best smartphone was 
the Palm Pre. Compared to the iPhone, the Pre had a better UI, multitasking, an 
established app store, and a lower price. The iPhone had a bigger screen and a 
huge advertising campaign, while HP bought Palm and didn't compete with Apple's 
marketing.

Nor are smartphones the only example of Apple's marketing winning over something 
better. Most MP3 players you simply copied your music files onto them and they 
would play the files. With the iPod, you had to install iTunes and use it to 
copy your files. By default, IIRC, it also moved your files to a new location. I 
never understood why anyone would choose it.

So better will win for things that are free, but decent marketing seems like a 
better bet for things people pay for.

-- 
Jeff Carter
"People called Romanes, they go the house?"
Monty Python's Life of Brian
79