The Marketing of LispOS?

[cosc19z5@bayou.uh.edu]

> I keep seeing messages on this list which hint toward somehow convincing large 
> numbers of users to use LispOS. 
> 
> Whatever happened to doing something because:
> 
> 	 It would be way cool to hack to the metal in Lisp.

This may be one of the motivations for some.  Not that I'm
all that fond of using Lisp to hack into the metal.  I
prefer more elegant abstractions... I think the term
used was "Platonic Programming".  


> 
> 	 Wouldn't it be cool to have your virtual memory be Lisp aware?

Only if I can percieve it.  Otherwise, what would the point be?
For me, what matters is what I can see and observe directly,
which is why I'm content for a CL Shell in lieu of a full
fledged O/S.


> 	 Would my device driver model look radically different in Lisp?

One would hope so.


> 
> 	 Wouldn't it be way cool to have OS MetaObjects? What would
> 	 they look like?

I'd have to think about this.


> 	 How fast would that dusty 486 sitting in my closet be running 
> 	 LispOS?

Since I don't have a 486 in my closet, I really couldn't care less.


> Or pick any one of the cool ideas that people like Rainer Joswig,
> Henry Baker and others talk about. If you are interested in making a
> profit out of this venture, unsubscribe from the list now, you are
> pretty much wasting your time here. 

What makes you think that trying to get LispOS to be accepted
commercially has anything to do with profit, or that it automatically
discounts people enjoying the project for other reasons?

It just so happens that getting LispOS in a position to be used
by others for profit helps its chances to succeed that much
more.

As far as I'm concerned, the state of computing can be summed up
as follows:
	1) All mainstream operating systems suck.
	2) All mainstream programming languages suck.

Having a LispOS can help address these two points by providing
a good operating system (or at least O/S interface) for a
change, and since the programming language will naturally be
Lisp based, Lisp will get to ride on its coattails.

For me, this is Lisp advocacy, the attempt to bring a better
O/S (both working to further the sorry state of computing),
and the chance for me to work on a project that is both
fun and potentially significant.

Of course it could all fall flat on its face.  But then that's
life, and that's the risks we take.  I'm taking that risk
right now in more ways than one.  


> [...] Don't expect one red cent from anything relating
> to LispOS or the applications developed to support it. That way, if
> something does happen, which I doubt, it would be a plesant suprise.
> 

Getting others to use LispOS in a commercial context does not
imply that we will be making money.

My attitude is to make LispOS free, and make the license flexible
enough to allow commercial use.  No monetary gain for me.  


> But, if you really have a burning need for a business model and just
> can't do things because they are cool (don't you already have a job?), 
> here is a crazy idea. Imagine all of those old 486s that Windows 99
> runs like an old dog on. Now imagine several of them networked
> together communicating with your database on your main system and each 
> other doing analysis of your business data in a way only Lisp lets
> you. You get nice usage out of hardware which you were about to scrap
> anyway and you get interesting tidbits out of your database that the
> data miners may not get because they have to write a specalized app
> for each business situation.
> 

Hmmmmm, interesting.  I'm already preoccupied with work related
to LispOS, but I am interested in hearing more.

> 
> -Reggie
> 

Regards,
Ahmed