ref: Microsoft barriers to Linux adoption on the desktop

[Gordon Keehn]

Mike McCarty wrote:
> Guy Fraser wrote:
>
> [I wrote]
>
>>> It looks to me like MicroSoft products are much better able to keep
>>> older hardware going than Linux.
>
> I don't have to. NO version of Linux has EVER run on an 8088 or
> an 80286. Period.
>
> [snip]
>> As far as I know, the 80386 was the first processor supported
>> by Linux, or BSD but I don't know. Back in those days, I 
>
> What I said. MicroSoft products are better able to run
> on old hardware than Linux.
>
> You agree, so there's no need for further discussion.
    Would someone show me their copy of Windows running on an 
8086/8088?  Or for that matter an 80286, except as an interesting toy?  
I'm willing to stipulate that MS DOS ran well on those processors.  As 
did PC DOS, and DRDOS, and CPM/86 (and probably a few more that I'm 
missing).  I know a professional writer who still uses the DOS version 
of Word Perfect, because it does everything she needs, with no learning 
curve.  That doesn't mean I have to (or even want to) use the same tools 
I used in 1980.  I don't even want to go back to using Windows 3.1 
(which only ran on '386 or better processors).
    Cheers,
Gordon Keehn