Software portability is defined not by the number of platforms supported, but by adherence to standards — primarily POSIX. POSIX compliance enables software to run across a vast range of operating systems and CPU architectures, benefiting both existing users and future platforms. The author argues that failing to use standard interfaces is a form of vendor lock-in and is unethical. The piece also questions Rust's suitability for systems programming due to its limited platform support compared to C, which runs on virtually everything.
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