Subject: Re: GET THIS BOOK :)
To: Ken Hornstein <owner-current-users@sun-lamp.cs.berkeley.edu>
From: Open Carefully -- Contents Under Pressure <greywolf@autodesk.com>
List: current-users
Date: 08/01/1994 10:51:47
WRT UNIX Haters Handbook...

I've had this long-standing grudge against NT simply due to its "black box"/
EGUI (Enforced Graphic User Interface) approach to systems administration.
When I was first introduced to it, in much the same way that a biker's face
can be introduced to the pavement, I was assigned a book called "INSIDE NT".
The manager behind Windows/NT is the same person who was behind VMS (David
Cutler).

With the advent of NT, and all the bogosity I have heard about VMS, I have
drawn the conclusion that he still can't write a decent OS.

The UNIX Haters' Handbook will undoubtedly hold some appeal for those folks
who have dedicated themselves to Windoze and Windoze/NoT.

I still am meaning to draw up a white paper as to why Windows/NT is not
a suitable operating system for real operations.  Unfortunately, time
is a commodity of late...

And, as illustrated, anyone who thinks that screen management belongs in
the kernel is a bloody idiot.  Certain things are written in user-land
because they can be (this is, of course, a premise which a message-passing
microkernel takes to the extreme).

Disclaimer:  I am a BSD UNIX zealot of the first degree since I was "born
and raised on a VAX running 4.1".

#define AUTHOR "kenh@wrl.EPI.COM (Ken Hornstein)"

/*
 * >Just for those amongst you who have the tollerance to satire and the
 * >time, get this book:
 * >
 * >	The UNIX Haters Handbook
 * 
 * You know, I just read that book a few days ago, and I have to say that I was
 * not very impressed with it.  Most of the arguments seem rather contrived; it
 * almost seemed that they took every feature of Unix and came up with reasons
 * that they hated it.  There's a lot of gross oversimplification ("The only
 * reason Unix was written was because Ken Thompson wanted to play Space Travel"),
 * some re-writing of history ("Remember when e-mail used to work, before Unix?"),
 * and some things that are just plain dumb ("Screen handling functions should be
 * in the kernel, where they belong ... just like VMS").  They make a few valid
 * points, but they don't seem to offer any better alternatives.  I get the
 * feeling that these people wouldn't be happy with _any_ computer system.
 * 
 * --Ken
 */

#undef AUTHOR	/* "kenh@wrl.EPI.COM (Ken Hornstein)" */



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