>> Had gcc not been available, another compiler would probably have been
>> used. If that compiler was non-free, how long do you think it would have
>> taken until a (semi-)free alternative appeared? The availability of gcc
>
>You are asking how long it would have been before another Linus Torvalds
>appeared and took advantage of the particular circumstances that might
>have existed at a another particular point in time, if gcc and the GNU
>utilities had not existed at the point it time that was important to the
>beginning Linux.
You're assuming that before the GNU C compiler there was nothing but
a howling void. This was NOT the case; on the contrary, the wide
availability of GCC has salted the fields that used to produce free
C compilers.
If RMS had been run down by a streetcar in 1983, GCC wouldn't exist,
but one of the other free C compilers would now dominate the C
compiler marketplace.
____
david parsons \bi/ Remember Sozobon C?
\/
-
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu
Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/