From: johnsd2@lib107.its.rpi.edu.its1 (Daniel Norman Johnson)
Subject: Re: Need to convince boss 486's are *not* w
Reply-To: johnsd2@lib107.its.rpi.edu.its1
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 19:48:47 GMT

In article 21344@leland.Stanford.EDU, kocks@leland.Stanford.EDU (Peter Kocks) writes:
>In article <hdq3sqg@rpi.edu>, johnsd2@vccnw07.its.rpi.edu.its1 (Daniel Norman Johnson) writes:
>
>
>|> >>>If I delete a bunch of resources from the Macintosh System file, I
>|> >>>will have to replace it.  Is that a weakness in Macintosh?  no.
>|> >>
>|> >>Nope. Because it is not possible for a casual use to do this;
>|> >>it requires extra software. Software Joe Novice User will not
>|> >>have; software that screams "You are about to die!" whenever
>|> >>you try to touch the System file anyway, just in case some
>|> >>poor fool novice DID get his hands on it.
>
>This whole thread is just a litte nuts.

Its grown to absurd proportions.

>  To compare the NeXT and the
>Mac based on how easy it is to muck up the os is largely irrelevant since
>both are easy to muck up.

I am not trying to do so. This thread started because I picked a nit
with the fact that some NeXTheads dismissed someoneorothers complaint
about the way the NeXT handled its login tiff.

And it turned into this... :)

>  On the NeXT you can go to root and delete stuff.
>On the Mac you can put in any number of inits or extensions that will
>cause all sorts of problems.

Yep. (and yes, I do consider the init-conflict problem a serious
flaw)

>  It is true that any os should try to
>prevent the user from doing breaking stuff.

It should also try to recover from being broken.

>  On the NeXT they have specail tools for
>the root user.  If you use them, you should be ok

Fine, but..

>  If you do things
>by hand, on the command line, you may not be.

Exactly. In this case, (remember the tiff this is all about?)
you should be. Even if you screw up.

>   On the Mac, changing system
>files requires a high level of expretise.

It does?

I supposed it depends on what you want to do with them.

You can do things like change the sound set without much expertice.

>  However, a tool (like an init)
>created by a Mac expert can totally mess things up for the general
>user who uses that tool.

If the tool WORKS it will not. However, the extension mechanism isn't
really stable enough.

>I know of at least one Mac user who could not print on their Mac for
>4 months until someone told them to boot the machine while holding
>the shift button down.  This keeps extensions from loading and now
>printing works.

See what I mean?

It was busted.

That's a bug.

>  Incidently, the person does not have the time to
>go into more detail about this problem and ALWAYS boots with the
>shift button down.  

Yech.

Worse and worse.

But can you blame the user? Its not HIS job to be a computer
repairman!

I'd be the last one to say that the Mac is flawless here. Imho,
the extension mechanism would be great if only it didn't break things!

But all too often, it does. :( And that screws up users in an unforgiving
fashion.

---
			- Dan Johnson
And God said "Jeeze, this is dull"... and it *WAS* dull. Genesis 0:0

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