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From: sjs@spectral.ctt.bellcore.com (Stan Switzer)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Re: fad computing
Message-ID: <18481@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Date: 5 Dec 89 18:35:09 GMT
References: <1128@m3.mfci.UUCP> <1989Nov22.175128.24910@ico.isc.com> <3893@scolex.sco.COM> <39361@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV> <17305@netnews.upenn.edu> <1989Nov25.000120.18261@world.std.com> <89Nov25.051946est.2233@neat.cs.toronto.edu>
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Reply-To: sjs@bellcore.com (Stan Switzer)
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Is desktop, network, bitmapped-display UNIX computing a fad?

Probably.  As long as you are just doing terminal-emulation in several
windows, you might just as well have two or three vt100 terminals and
job control.

I seriously doubt that networked Macintosh users are too worried about
whether about whether they should go back to traditional timesharing,
but at the same time if I am typing troff commands into a UNIX
workstation, then I might as well be using GCOS.

The problem is that workstations are not enough like Macintoshes and
vice versa.

But UNIX on a desk?  No.  Obviously this is crazy.  The only reason
UNIX is the operating system of choice for workstations is because it
was at the right place at the right time.  But that's all water under
the bridge now.

What next?

Stan Switzer  sjs@bellcore.com