Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ficc!peter From: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Bloat costs Keywords: software engineering, xwindows, unix, minix, this and that Message-ID: <-:-3LX1@ggpc2.ferranti.com> Date: 10 Jun 90 14:22:41 GMT References: <442@van-bc.UUCP> <266577FA.6D99@tct.uucp> <1990Jun1.200333.10672@pmsmam.uucp> <23473@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> <8M_3OF3@xds13.ferranti.com> <2066@dali> Reply-To: peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) Organization: Xenix Support, FICC Lines: 21 In article <2066@dali> icsu8053@ming.cs.montana.edu (Craig Pratt) writes: > There are actually a few different revolutions going on and I don't think > the one sparked by Xerox/Apple is the most important. I think the most > revolutionary idea was sparked by Unix. Do you know what that idea is? > It's a bit more philosophical > than technical. As I understand it, the idea behind Multics and, subse- > quently, Unix was to build an OS which does almost everything without > taking into consideration the performance or cost of its use. I guess not. The idea behind UNIX was the software tools approach. Design small tools that do one job well, and combine them using powerful but simple techniques, primarily the pipeline, to build larger tools. UNIX was the direct opposite of the kitchen-sink approach to O/S design: it only does the things that are needed to support the software tools. Setting windowing standards at this point in software development makes about as much sense as settling on Watt steam engines... planetary gears and all... to power industry. -- `-_-' Peter da Silva. +1 713 274 5180. 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today? @FIN Dirty words: Zhghnyyl erphefvir vayvar shapgvbaf.