*BSD News Article 61174


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From: chris.traxler@theo.physik.uni-giessen.de (Chris Traxler)
Newsgroups: misc.misc,misc.forsale.computers.discussion,comp.os.os2.marketplace,comp.os.msdos.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.win95.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.misc,comp.os.mach,comp.os.ms-windows,comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy,comp.os.misc,comp.os.magic-cap,comp.os.lynx,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux,comp.os.386bsd.development,comp.os.386bsd.bugs
Subject: Re: *** PLEASE TAKE THIS OS SURVEY ***
Date: Fri, 09 Feb 1996 14:21:38 GMT
Organization: University of Giessen, Germany
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ritchi@telebyte.nl (David Ritchi) wrote:

>Jim Whitehead <jwhitehe@erc.cat.syr.edu> wrote:

>>Ok... here is the deal.... i have to do a project for my science fair... 
>>and I decided to investiate the easiest to use na dmost reliable 
>>Operating System/Environment... Please take the following 3 questions...

>>1.) What Operating System/Environment do you most frequently use?

>Windows 95.

>>2.) What Operating System/Environment do you feel is the most User Friendly?

>Windows 95 (I do like Linux better though, it'sjust not as user
>friendly)

>>3.) Have you ever had a crash on your computer, that was blamed, or the 
>>fault of the OS/OE, if so.. which system/environment was the cause?

>I'm afraid I'm the one to blame for crashes.

NO! That kind of answer has been given frequently in this thread. 
I would like to clarify one point:

* If a TASK or PROCESS crashes, it is your fault as the programmer.
* But if the whole SYSTEM crashes due to a faulty written program
started under non-supervisor (root) permission, it is ALWAYS a bug in
the operating system, as a serious OS supports full memory protection
and there should (in an idealized environment) be no way whatsoever to
make the system hang unless you are root and changing configurations.

The normal user cannot make a reasonable OS crash. That rules out
Win3.1, Win95, and Mac OS (I don't know about NT or OS/2).

Any comments are welcome, flames are not, and please send a copy of
your follow-up to me by email.

Kind regards,

   Chris

 -----  
 Chris Traxler, Inst.f.Theor.Physik, 
 Heinrich-Buff-Ring 16, D-35392 Giessen