From: mbarkah@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Ade Barkah)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: IS UNIX DEAD? (long)
Date: 9 Nov 92 12:07:54 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

peter@global.hacktic.nl (Peter Busser) writes:
: rahardj@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Budi Rahardjo) writes:
: 
: >Why is that more intuitive than 'ls' ? I have to learn CAT ,D2 ...
: 
: >Why is that important to have DIR. You can setup 'dir' as an alias for 'ls'.
: >ls -l is not as difficult as  DIR /W
: 
: Not *because* it is ls, but because most people know DIR and don't know ls. It
: doesn't matter if it's DIR, LIST, LD, CATALOG or ls, as long as it is what the
: user expects. And since DOS, OS/2, AmigaDOS, OS-9 and I guess other systems as
: well use DIR and nog ls, that makes DIR a standard. Hey! Even FTP uses DIR! 

Uhm, I know it's a small point, but one people seem to forget: Most People
in the World speak Chinese, so, why don't we insist on writing in English ?

Or, why is it good to learn some french when you're travelling to France ?

My point is, Unix offer many advantages (and some disadvantages) than more
simpler systems such as DOS and OS/2. Should users want to use those
advantages, they should expect to learn and think the way Unix does.
If they find Unix is too complex, and don't want to bother with asking
someone for help, or paying someone for help, then probably Unix wasn't
meant for them in the first place.

The 'dir to ls' comparison is ridiculous. It's like saying since most
people know Basic, 'C' should be packaged with macros which will accept
PRINT as an alias to 'printf()'. And LISP shouldn't have all those
parenthesis, because they are foreign to Fortran users trying to 
switch to LISP. 

Today Unix and most of its variants are large and complex operating
systems, designed for the use of large and serious tasks and systems.
Moreover, I will also say that Unix today is meant to be run and
managed by system administrators who know what they're doing.

That does *not* say that Unix _users_ should be wizards. It's part
of the sysadmin's job to make the system (Unix or otherwise) as easy
to use as possible.

People to forget that most Unix systems are *not* home systems. High
end dedicated workstations to powerful Cray machines use Unix. I doubt
people running these machines are those who can't figure out how to
manage Unix.

Now, there is a growing trend for Unix to enter the home market, thanks
for SCO (but remember that the total users and sales is tiny compared
to the rest of the Unix market.) But really, most Unix packages today
are easy to install. When I installed a Microport svr4 on my machine
recently, I just pop in the first disk, answer some questions, and
that was that. I just waited for the beep prompting me to insert the
next disk. Heck, I had fewer problems than installing OS/2 2.0 !

Why do people who find Unix too hard want Unix at home anyhow ? If
they want it to learn Unix, and were willing to pay $1000+ for it,
then they'd probably learn 'real Unix' anyhow. If they need if for
their job, then they don't have a choice but to learn Unix anyhow.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: most people who flame Unix
complain that as a single-user-system without a dedicated sysadmin
person, Unix is too hard. Well, I think those people need to wake 
up, smell the coffee, and realize that Unix wasn't meant to be a
single-user-system without a dedicated sysadmin person.

It's like asking why a nuclear-powered Aircraft Carrier is too complicated
for a single-tuna-fisherman.

Regards,

-Ade.
-- 
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