Re: Unix Haters

[Alain Graziani <graziani@GTSS.RDYNE.ROCKWELL.COM>]

At 05:21 AM 3/26/96 GMT, Wallace E. Owen wrote:
>In article <dewar.827685726@schonberg>, Robert Dewar <dewar@cs.nyu.edu> wrote:
>>Tore reacted to
>>
>>"moi (moi@news) wrote:
>>: you must not have know how to use it at all. Or maybe you don't like the
>>: features that win95 and others are just now getting that unix has had for
>10+
>>: years. truth is.. unix is and will always be ahead of everything else.
>>
>>"
>>
>>Tore, when someone posts something like that, either they don't know what
>>they are talking about and should be ignored, or they are trolling. I
>>would guess the latter in this case :-)
>>
>

[snipped here]

>What was the first OS to permit
>mounting another computer's disks over the net? Unix, with RPC/XDR/NFS.
>Yes, it's now available for some other OS's but none integrate it
>so well.

I disagree!  From a user perspective, I think DEC's VMS OS is the most
elegant and mature way of integrating several machines of varying
capabilities.  System resources and disks are completely transparent to the
users.  System managers can (and freqently do) move applications and data
from one disk to another or across several disks without the users even
knowing about it.

>Unix is also probably the best non-proprietary OS, with fair standards.
>Compared with Windows NT/95 or OS/2 (Sorry to put OS/2 in the same category
>as Windows), you're not locked in to a small collection of hardware ven-
>dors.

I found that moving Unix apps and code between hardware vendors is not the
coompile-and-run system the vendors would have you believe.  There is no
real common Unix OS.  Sure Unix has the same feel but each vendor adds their
own features which could make your code just as un-portable as any
proprietary OS.

>There are several other firsts, of course.  These are probably the most
>well-known.
>
>I'm not saying that it's the best OS.  But it's good enough, and more standard
>than most.

I'll agree with that.

>I know that in the Ada world we sometimes get a little pedantic
>(All of us), so when something's not 'perfect' in some regard we get a bit
>peeved, and that 'C' got where it is today by being 'good enough'.  But
>until someone can point out a better OS available on all the platforms I
>use, I'll live with it.

Web browsers seem to be a good example of how an OS should work from a user
perspective.

>+-------------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
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Alain Graziani

Rocketdyne Division, Rockwell International
Ground and Test Support Software
International Space Station Alpha
graziani@gtss.rdyne.rockwell.com