Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.arch Subject: Re: Macintosh OS Message-ID: Date: 4 Jun 90 16:13:16 GMT References: <1990May30.230248.6200@Neon.Stanford.EDU> <1935@key.COM> <30273@ut-emx.UUCP> <76700207@p.cs.uiuc.edu> <402@newave.UUCP> <1990Jun2.132847.14292@oracle.com> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 11 In article <1990Jun2.132847.14292@oracle.com> csimmons@oracle.com writes: > This "is the Mac OS an OS" line seems to assume that an OS defines a > gruntload of really strange abstractions: like what your graphical user > interface should look like. I always thought an OS should define a very > minimal number of abstractions: like how the cpu resource is allocated > to different processes (scheduling)... Exactly. An operating system is basically a resource manager for programs. And one of the most important resources avalable is CPU time. An operating system that does not manage that resource is so primitive as to barely qualify for the name. -- `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf.