From: shendrix@PCS.CNU.EDU ("", Shannon Hendrix)
Newsgroups: comp.os.coherent
Subject: Re: Tcl to replacement most of /bin & /usr/bin (was: Tcl on Linux
Date: 22 Nov 92 03:49:34 GMT
Reply-To: "Coherent operating system" <COHERENT@indycms.bitnet>


	Its great that you get such smart users.  Fine.  But I've seen people
that have a hard time remembering where the power switch is.  A friend of mine
teaches classes for the Apple Macintosh.  Here you have a machine designed for
intuitive use and some people still don't get it.
	Sometimes I have taken people into the lab and sat them down in front
of a workstation and I can teach them anything.  It seems to work one on one
but most won't even try.
	I used to be a computer operator for a large main office.  I ran a
Data General MV20000 Eclipse with 250 users.  It was pure hell from day one.
The system was perfectly reliable.  Its just that no one seemed to ever use
their brain.  So, maybe I've just never gotten a chance to do thing my way.
I didn't like the way users were trained there but some of them were simply
a few cylinders shy.  The had just never used a computer and the system was
complex.  Some simple changes like I've suggested would have made it work
fine.  I still remember what most of them asked for and it wasn't a problem
to implement.  It just either wasn't or people resisted it.
	About AT&T contract.  As I said before.  I don't care if they have
a legal right to the code.  They didn't develop it and often act as though
they did.  The people that did the work aren't receiving the benefit.  Of
course, most of them did it for the fun of it or just because they enjoyed
it.  AT&T often steps on the people that put them where they are.
	I agree that kernel bloat is a problem.  I would still like to see
some graphics capability built in.  Or, some hooks for it to function more
in tune with the system.
	I couldn't handle the two user limit.  As I type this, there are
three users on this system.  I was just thinking, if the limit is implemented
in login, could you not replace it with your own login?  A guy I know who
sells UNIX boxes is talking to some people at SCO about possibly selling
hard drives with UNIX installed, no limits, to students real cheap.  He
would like it to have some sort of development tools too.  However, you
could just put a GNU system on it I guess.  Might be better anyway.
	You are right about UNIX being more reliable than DOS, Windows, and
OS/2.  I never said it wasn't.  However, my DOS file system has been severely
abused and I have never screwed it up (bad).  Its just too simple to mess
up very much.  I mean, people go for years without backing up, defragging,
or doing any maintenance.  That may be the biggest problem with and OS
like UNIX is that people are used to never maintaining their system.
Actually, you should perform maintenance on a DOS system on a regular basis
and the same with a MAC or whatever.  Thing is, you can get away with it
on the simpler systems.  Abuse a UNIX system and you'll pay for it later.
	As far as OS/2 is concerned.  That is a dog so far.  It is almost
as complex as UNIX but you get absolutely no documentation that is worth
anything, about its internals.  You get some error message and a note to
call IBM about it.  Hah!  Linux screams along on my little 8-meg 386 box
but OS/2, even without Presentation Mangler was pretty sluggish.  I sometimes
think that OS/2 may be the best thing to happen to UNIX.  Put the systems
side by side and let the users pick after seeing them together.  I keep
trying to tell people that UNIX has had for 15 years what IBM and Microsoft
are promising they'll have "real soon now."

=====================================================
Shannon Hendrix                |shendrix@pcs.cnu.edu
Christopher Newport University |---------------------
Newport News, VA               |** space for rent **
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