[olug] Library software request

[Terry]

holy rant batman.....its just an operating system....   :)


On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 23:15:48 +0000, Cale Lewis <dlazlo at fbx.com> wrote:
> I believe there are a couple that were writen for BeOS if you don't mind a
> non-*nix. It's still free and the OSS version is gaining ground. Might be
> ready in the next few month, and since it's source and almost completely
> binary compatable you won't have to hunt for software. The extensible
> attributes in the filesystem and live queries at near lightspeed mean you can
> save the hasstle of loading a database app for most things.It would just slow
> things down and not work near as good. Multimedia handleing would also be
> very handy to have.
> 
> I tried promoting it in libraries once with some support from Be Inc. and a
> few software developers and companies, but it was too late in the game for Be
> Inc to do much. They'd already taken quite a pummeling in  the marketplace
> from M$ bigwig "courtesy calls" to each and every OEM that showed interest in
> selling systems preloaded with BeOS. The only two that had any kind of nerve
> (barely) were Prius and Fujitsu I think, and even though BeOS was preloaded,
> no mention was made in the documentation other than a filecard sizedpiecethat
> told you how to make a boot floppy so you could access what was already on
> the machine, and M$ made sure there was NO mention, not even a hint, that
> came up at boot time or any other time that referenced BeOS ever!!!
> 
> It is very hard to get notice when you can't get an OEM of any size to sell
> hardware with your system preloaded since most folks would never think of
> buying, much less installing another OS in those days. Linux is damn lucky
> that things have finnally started to change for the better.
> 
>  Most folks I know that have tried BeOS for even a week or 2 suddenly find
> they waste incredible amounts of time staring at Windows little hourglass
> (BeOS doesn't even have one! 8^)) and have to reboot everytime they turn
> around. Hmmm, maybe there's a reason Gates went to such lengths and
> threatened to pull so many licenses to keep BeOS off the screens of new
> systems.
> 
> I sincerely hope that  with  Haiku's  open source implimentation of the BeOS
> way  of doing things, that most Linux and *BSD developer and supporters will
> at least take a good look at it and consider if it might not be such a bad
> idea to have a choice of systems that handle certain areas and tasks
> extremely well while also working well with other OS'es, rather then try to
> shoehorn everything under the sun into one or 2 systems. Diversity is
> healthy. BeOS users have seen how bad the 800 lb gorrila's social skills and
> ethics were and still are when it comes to sharing and playing with others.
> 
> They (Be Inc.) were a small company that M$ could target, not scattered and
> hard to pin down and sue, threaten, buy, bully, etc like Linux. Plus they had
> the audacity to port their system to Wintel when Steve Jobs wouldn't share
> his corner of the playground, which by the way, M$ had so magnanamously let
> him keep because it was different hardware and was their essential "token
> competition" for any legal matters. If you ever try BeOS, stop and think
> about how in Be's slightly less than 10 years it only employed over 100
> people for 2 of those, yet managed to create an SMP  hardware platform (uses
> up to 8 cpu's out of the box) on 2 different proccesors and a  solid base for
> the OS to run on them from scratch. Along the way they managed to build  in a
> 64 bit journaled filesystem AND port it to x86.
> 
> I KNOW why Gates was  targeting it, it was TOO good to compete with if it
> ever got a break. Buy it or Kill it! SOP at M$. Only it's not dead yet, and
> could be a potent ally for Linux in any computing environment. The right tool
> for the job, not a Swiss Army Knife to repair your car and flip your
> pancakes.
> 
> Cale Lewis   
> 
> 
> 
> >> What specific capabilities are you looking for? Any incidents that
> >> prompted you to investigate this sort of solution?
> >
> >I would like to be able to load books, CDs, DVDs, etc into the system by
> >scanning the ISBN or typing it in.  Then have the system load up all
> relevant
> >data from Amazon or the Library of Congress.
> >
> >Then allow users to check material in and out on their own.   This will be a
> >system in a (very small) church library, so there wouldn't be a librarian on
> >hand.  The library hasn't been used much before, but it's being expanded
> now.
> >They are using some type paper/card system for checkin/checkout currently.
> >
> >Tim, I saw your post about moving to Las Vegas; best of luck to you.  I
> think
> >you will be missed from the Omaha group.
> >
> >-Ryan in Sioux City
> 
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