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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!mel.dit.csiro.au!merlin!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!simtel!news.kei.com!news.mathworks.com!uunet!in1.uu.net!news.thepoint.net!news.thepoint.net!not-for-mail From: arlie@news.thepoint.net (Arlie Davis) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Slight flame from Linux user Date: 4 Jun 1995 14:34:41 -0400 Organization: ThePoint - Kentuckiana's Internet Connection Lines: 53 Message-ID: <3qsuc1$r12@dg.thepoint.net> References: <3ql3gd$je2@bell.maths.tcd.ie> <D9K4Iz.BJM@midway.uchicago.edu> <3qo2af$nqo@bell.maths.tcd.ie> <MMEAD.95Jun4012021@Glock.COM> NNTP-Posting-Host: dg.thepoint.net mmead@Glock.COM (matthew c. mead) writes: > I don't think he's being patronizing whatsoever. He's simply >stating the truth. Unix was never meant for someone who wants an easy to >use operating system that does everything for you. Sure, maybe it's going >to evolve into something that can provide that for those that want it, and >provide what Unix already is to those who love it, but that time isn't now. The most important part of your post is the word "never" -- you have condemned UNIX to being a static, unchanging environment. UNIX needs to get mobile, people. UNIX doesn't have to sacrifice quality in order to make it more accessible to people who don't have a clue, and more importantly, don't _want or need_ to have a clue, about it's internal workings. Where are the administrative shells? Even after a novice installs FreeBSD/ NetBSD/Linux/whatever with no problems at all, _simple_ tasks such as configuring inbound/outbound PPP are decidedly non-trivial. Yes, once you understand the intricacies of PPP and of the specific implementation, it all goes well. But people shouldn't NEED to know the details! UNIX is currently friendly only to those people who spend a great deal of time and effort learning it. UNIX used to be the _only_ adequate solution for several applications, most notably TCP/IP. This is no longer the case; any moron can install Windows NT, a Web server, and configure a PPP/RAS modem pool in an evening without breaking a sweat, and without knowing _anything_ about the details of the protocols and applications involved. I hate to say it, but Microsoft, through Windows NT, is going to kill UNIX. Yeah, it costs -- big deal. People are much, much more willing to throw money at a project than time. The only way to keep UNIX around is to improve it, and to steal ruthlessly the features of NT that are making it so threatening. Most important -- make using UNIX easy!! If not, UNIX will return to being a researcher's tool, and the odd-ball toy of a lot of bitter UNIX advocates. Let me stress one point before someone tells me to buy a Mac: Making an operating system easy to install/use/administer does NOT mean gutting it of its internal vitality, flexibility, and elegance of design. You can have your cake and eat it too. You can have a system that runs itself and _still_ have the option of tweaking every tiny parameter, and enriching it with every script, hack, and modification you can think of. Maybe it's time for the next weak pun. -- -- Arlie Davis | The Point: High-quality Internet service. 82G online. -- <arlie@thepoint.net> | $20/mon (flat) (812)246-8032 http://www.thepoint.net -- System administrator | ----------------------------------------------------- -- E Pluribus UNIX | # ./programmer < coffee > main.c