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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!news.wildstar.net!cancer.vividnet.com!hunter.premier.net!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!news.sprintlink.net!news-stk-3.sprintlink.net!news.unicomp.net!cbbrowne From: cbbrowne@wolfe.brownes.org (Christopher B. Browne) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.infosystems.www.misc Subject: Re: Unix too slow for a Web server? Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1996 16:29:09 -0500 Organization: UniComp Technologies International Corp -- Internet Service Lines: 56 Message-ID: <slrn54tqh5.23e.cbbrowne@wolfe.brownes.org> References: <323ED0BD.222CA97F@pobox.com> <51pog8$1gj@newsbr.eunet.fr> <Dy0K58.MLv@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> <32423719.6904CE4@julia.de> <51uo7m$bu9@magic.metawire.com> <R.3244780C.23B6AB75@aug.com> <01bbadcf$6ef66e60$8588b6cc@tzspc> <324E26CD.7785@www.play-hookey.com> <l7ij25.2s8.ln@localhost> <324E80B3.21F4@www.play-hookey.com> Reply-To: cbbrowne@unicomp.net NNTP-Posting-Host: 205.240.141.90 X-Newsreader: slrn (0.9.0.0 (BETA) UNIX) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:133119 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:28436 comp.infosystems.www.misc:44370 In article <324E80B3.21F4@www.play-hookey.com>, Ken Bigelow wrote: >> Knews let's you click on any URL and launch Netscape (if it's not >> already done) with this url. It's also fully threaded, display inline >> MIME images, support kill/hot files, etc ... >> >> http://www.nada.kth.se/~su95-kjo/knews.html > >Which still means two applications running where one will do the job. One should be more precise. It means using two applications that are designed to do the individual tasks well, as opposed to one that isn't. The "MS-DOS way" in the bad old days of single-tasking was that applications were steadily growing in size and complexity. You'd have "integrated suites" like Lotus Symphony and MS-Works. The individual components were typically pretty shoddy. You'd have one part that was designed well, and the others that were designed around the one. (Symphony is an ideal case in point; it was a decent spreadsheet package. *Horrible* wordprocessor.) In a multiuser, multitasking environment, the appropriate design philosophy is to build independent component applications as well as possible, and build good interfaces between those components. Examples of this in the UNIX environment would be: - Using Elm/MH/Pine for managing news. They designed with that in mind; they're not hacked web browsers, or hacked news readers. - Using slrn/tin/trn/nn/Knews for reading news. They were designed to do that job well. There are disagreements as to which is best; to each their own. Far better at managing news than Netscape is ever likely to be. - Using Mosaic/Lynx/Netscape/Grail for browsing the web. They're not hacked newsreaders; they don't *make* good newsreaders. I'm not just saying that; HTTP != NNTP in fundamental ways. Netscape Navigator can let you read news. There are some *bad* bugs. See recent discussions in news.software.nntp. Netscape is trying to figure out how to grapple with the fundamental problems. And NNTP server software writers are in the process of creating patches that deny access to the bugged versions of Netscape Navigator, and other news readers that open NNTP connections in a promiscuous fashion. (e.g. - Opening *many* simultaneous NNTP connections, and/or one per article read, and/or dropping connections without attempting to clean them up.) Do you use wordprocessor macros to run your business' POS system? Why then should you use a web browser to read news, or assume that that's the best idea? -- Christopher B. Browne, cbbrowne@unicomp.net, chris_browne@sdt.com Web: http://www.conline.com/~cbbrowne SAP Basis Consultant, UNIX Guy Windows NT - How to make a 100 MIPS Linux workstation perform like an 8 MHz 286