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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!metro!metro!asstdc.scgt.oz.au!nsw.news.telstra.net!act.news.telstra.net!vic.news.telstra.net!news.mira.net.au!news.vbc.net!garlic.com!fox.almaden.ibm.com!uunet!in2.uu.net!nntp.news.primenet.com!news.primenet.com!jstern From: jstern@primenet.com (Josh Stern) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.os.linux.advocacy Subject: Re: Historic Opportunity facing Free Unix (was Re: The Lai/Baker paper, benchmarks, and the world of free UNIX) Date: 23 Apr 1996 00:45:01 -0700 Organization: Primenet Services for the Internet Lines: 53 Sender: root@primenet.com Message-ID: <4li1pt$qd4@nnrp1.news.primenet.com> References: <NELSON.96Apr15010553@ns.crynwr.com> <y5aspdwo4fb.fsf@graphics.cs.nyu.edu> <317BEFB7.72D52E7@lambert.org> <y5ahgubr57k.fsf@graphics.cs.nyu.edu> X-Posted-By: jstern@usr3.primenet.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:22188 comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc:806 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:3467 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:3321 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:18037 comp.os.linux.advocacy:46925 David Fox <fox@graphics.cs.nyu.edu> wrote: >Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> writes: >] David Fox wrote: >] ] Much of applications work tends to involve aesthetic judgement, >] ] which is something that puts off a lot of people in the systems >] ] crowd, including me. >] >] Aesthetics are a seperate problem, and usually reflects a need >] to include a graphic designer, or at least tools which generate >] code in strict conformance to style guidelines. > >My use of the word "aesthetics" was inadequate to my meaning. I meant >stuff like usable, inspiring, inventive, and lots of other good things >that applications *should* be (but hardly ever are.) Let's not forget to mention the qualities of a) knowing something about the particular domain that is addressed by an application and b) having a passion for discovering more about that area. For example, Donald Knuth, a very smart and capable man, worked on TeX/MetaFont for 10 years because he is/was really passionate about typography - not because he wanted to compete with WordStar or WordPerfect. (This focus also caused him to take an uncompromising approach to the design of tools intended to maximize the quality of *printed* output. LaTeX, which most TeX users actually interface with, wasn't even his project.) If someone really wants to start a big word processor project I'd advise them to follow Knuth's example in the sense that they should begin by thinking about what sort of technologies will best provide the kind of functionality that they want their application to achieve. It doesn't make sense to begin by worrying about things like the file format used by MS Word 5,6,7 whatever. Digital typography would be one relevant technology to take into account. Perhaps linguistic syntax might be another. A word processor would have the potential to be a lot smarter if it could map words into parts of speech and even sentences. Imagine how cool it would be to have a word processor where one could toggle a sentence between say active and passive voice by giving a command. Is that doable? Maybe, maybe not. In any case, it seems unimaginative to claim that writing device drivers is inherently more difficult than writing word processors. - Josh -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- jstern jstern@primenet.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------