Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!mvax.cc.ic.ac.uk!suna!umapy03
From: umapy03@suna.cc.ic.ac.uk (K. Hampel  Ext 6918  Supvsr D.Vvedensky)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Where does UNIX fit in a graphically-based computer world?
Message-ID: <1990Sep14.194015.6941@cc.ic.ac.uk>
Date: 14 Sep 90 19:40:15 GMT
Sender: news@cc.ic.ac.uk (USENET News System)
Reply-To: umapy03@cc.ic.ac.uk (Kris Hampel)
Organization: Imperial College Computer Center, London, UK
Lines: 29

Just to add my penny's worth - here I am sitting with a nice big mac on
my desk reading news on a sun three blocks away. So far I am using
telnet, soon we will get X-windows. I will then be able to use a nice GUI
on the unix machine of my choice.

Unfortunately, things ain't that simple (yet):

For one, we still need to buy an X-windows program for each of our Macs
  many $$$ here - no site license deals available yet.
Is X on a mac fast enough?
  it is very slow on sun 3s.
Will the GUI traffic clog the network?
  solution - just buy a faster one... (again more $$$)
Are there many useful packages that talk to X?
  rather than a proprietary system - I already have one computer
  display on my desk, more would be silly.
Will it improve my productivity or provide me with new tools?
  hmm - the mac sort of did, but I spent so much time tweaking my mac
  that my productivity plummeted, also true first time I met the unix
  command line so that could just be the way I work...

It is a great pity though that Apple have tried to keep the mac user
interface locked into mac-os (and now A/UX). Betcha they will try and
sue anyone who tries to use it anywhere else... like on a sun over X...

like I said - just a few comments (my OWN opinions, not my boss')

Kris Hampel,	Solid State Theory Group, Physics, Imperial College.
		=====> kris@sst.ph.ic.ac.uk <=====