<soapbox on>
Hmmm... I'll disagree. Linux, and other operating systems that support
protected memory models are more reliable than operating systems that
use a shared memory model, like Windows and MacOS. In the latter case,
an misbehaving program can crash the system. In the protected-memory
case, it is almost impossible for a lousy program to crash the whole
box. That is why Linux is more reliable than Windows.
The size of the kernel and the open review process are both helpful
in keeping Linux reliable, but the underlying memory-management
architecture is much more critical to Linux's reliablity.
<soapbox off>
In any case, Linux has proven itself to be much more reliable than the
operating systems produced at Microsoft. (And Apple, but most folks
don't care about Apple.) It should be interesting to see how reliable
Windows 2000/NT ends up being as it is a protected-memory architecture
and _should_ be as reliable as Linux. We'll see.
Mike
> Why does Linux crash as rarely as airplanes crash? Because linux and
> airplanes go through a similar post-design review process. In the
> aircraft industry, a group of engineers who did not do the design go
> through all of the design documentation and look for mistakes, things that
> got overlooked, assumptions that aren't warranted, etc. Any problems they
> find are fixed, at least in theory. In the open source movement, any
> program is inspected by users who do the same thing. Any problems they
> find are fixed, also at least in theory. The problems are public
> knowlege. In both industries, the ideal is not always attained, but at
> least there is an ideal to shoot for.
>
> There is another reason why linux is so reliable. The Kernel of any
> operating system is the final authority over what happens on that machine.
> If the kernel is too large, then it becomes unreliable, which is true for
> On Thu, 16 Dec 1999, Nicholas Bodley wrote:
>
> >
> > Try this: Computer crashes should be as rare as airplane crashes;
> > anything less is unprofessional. Expand on that. Undo the
> > brainwashing. Slashdot archives? (Probably really time-consuming.)
> >
> > (Yes, I can be concise!)
> >
> > Nicholas Bodley * Waltham, Mass. |*| Posted from world.std.com
> > 'Twas the night before Xmas, and all through the coffeehouse,
> > not a creature was stirring. // .sig is in alpha stage...
> >
> >
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>
>
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