On Jun 18, 19:07, Allison J Parent wrote:
  Subject: Re: OT -mostly -
 <Compare this to modern OSs - windows, macos, etc where the development 
pack
  <costs hundreds or thousands of dollars extra.
 VMS, all of the Unix clones, 
All cost extra, unless you mean gcc etc.  None of HP/UX, Solaris, IRIX,
AIX, come with more than the minimum required to relink the kernel,
although you can buy the development tools separately.
  RT-11 to name a few still provide full
 development environment. 
That's certainly valid.  The exception that proves the rule, perhaps :-)
  I'm sure some(I would) here would add CPM
 OS9 and even PC based DOS(MS, DRdos, CCPM...).  the amount of freeware
 or lowcost shareware for DOS/winders is quite impressive and plentyful.
 Of all the software out there CPM-80, APPLE and PCdos has the largest
 archives, but the PDP-8, -11, VAX archives are getting big. 
But does freeware/shareware count?  The original point was that the
manufacturers don't provide their tools for free as part of the OS; of
course you can add on any amount of 3rd party free software to virtually
any OS.
--
Pete                                            Peter Turnbull
                                                Dept. of Computer Science
                                                University of York