Thread: Unix Popularity
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Old 5th July 2008
DrJ DrJ is offline
ISO Quartermaster
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Gold Country, CA
Posts: 507
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Oko View Post
First of all I mean no offense by my previous post.
Then you should avoid telling someone that they do not know what they are talking about. Chances are very good that I have been solving PDEs longer than you have been alive.
Quote:
When the NASA needs CAD, 2D, and 3D animations ... they use Silicon Graphics (Irix in the past now Linux) but I guess price tag of couple hundred thousand dollars is little bit to much for an average Joe
NASA has the budget for a bespoke application, and they have been developing these since the 1960s.
Quote:
I also happen to work at the math Department (U of A) ...
Check to see what the faculty in Chemistry, Biology, EE and so forth are using, both personally and in their labs. I know many of them rather well, actually (I was at ASU for many years, and set up some collaborative grant applications with the photochemistry/optical sciences people at UA).

To be clear, I have never claimed that Windows is an outstanding system. I don't really care much for it, but it is boatloads better than running VM/CMS on a 3270 EBCDIC terminal. I do claim that the range of specialized professional applications is unmatched, and that this will not change in the foreseeable future. To claim otherwise only speaks to a lack of familiarity with the marketplace, and the scientific/engineering marketplace in particular. Of course these are bested by bespoke applications for the really really tiny, high-performance niches most of which have been developed continuously over many years. That too will not change.
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