> The same problem is not present with MS operating systems because the
> releases remain for a long time (a couple of years). Users have to
> put up with the bugs for that long though.
Every MS service pack introduces new DLLs. Most recently
MS has taken the stance that the newest DLLs are the best and promptly
removes any old DLLs from the system directory. Talk about breaking
applications! Heck, my wife managed to develop an MS Access app that
works fine under 98, but won't work under 95. It says the DATE function
is not available! The upshot - DAO went from version 3.5 in 95 to 3.51
in 98; clearly MS has work to do to keep things running. And W2K will
only make things infinitely worse.
> Apple provide major versions of software every few years with updates,
> which are by and large compatible, every so often.
Apple spends a lot of time making sure most apps work. That's
because they don't write many of them like MS does. They actually have
to work
with other SW houses :)
> There is an argument that Unix is more complex, and this model could
> not easily be applied. In fact, Sun is a good example of an
> organisation that successfully manages that process. Applications
> compiled for Solaris 5.x will run on most of the OS versions without
> problems. This allows users to install quickly and with confidence
> applications that have been precompiled for that series of operating
> system versions.
>
> If you are under the impression that this is how Linux works too, I
> would suggest that you look again carefully.
With a rapidly moving target like Linux, it's hard to make an
app work everywhere. However, 2 points here. Generally speaking, any
app with the correct libraries will most likely work under various
different kernels (2.0-2.2). There are exceptions, of course.
Secondly, given the same version libraries, and nearly the same kernel
level,
a given app should run on most of the distributions, be it RH, Debian,
Caldera, etc.
The key here is the libraries, not necessarily the distribution
or even the kernel. (Although, each major kernel release breaks as many
things as it fixes ;)).
BTW, isn't Java supposed to free us of porting problems???? ;)
-Tom
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