*BSD News Article 45024


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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.


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