Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!ub!oswego!news
From: ostroff@Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: UNIX is yuck (was Re: Next intro...)
Message-ID: <1990Oct9.003852.18788@oswego.Oswego.EDU>
Date: 9 Oct 90 00:38:52 GMT
References: <4737@crash.cts.com> <2867@bridge2.ESD.3Com.COM> <1990Oct6.172357.18366@smsc.sony.com> <1990Oct8.091751.3053@csc.anu.oz.au>
Reply-To: ostroff@oswego.Oswego.EDU (Boyd Ostroff)
Organization: Instructional Computing Center, SUNY at Oswego, Oswego, NY
Lines: 28

In article <1990Oct8.091751.3053@csc.anu.oz.au> pfr654@csc.anu.oz.au writes:
>I know that UNIX can be made to do just about anything, and that Apple's 
>A/UX can now run 32 bit clean Mac programs in a Mac-like manner, BUT if you 
>are forever putting nice front ends onto an OS why not start at the start 
>and have a nice OS (from the user's point of view anyway)?

I think this shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what an operating
system is.  What you refer to as a "nice OS from the user's point of
view" _IS_ just the "front end".  Under unix, this is your shell
(sh, csh, ksh, whatever) and under the Mac OS it is the Finder.
I don't see why you (as a "user") should really care what the underlying
OS is, since this "front end" is all you need to deal with...

Take a look at Inside Macintosh sometime, then look at the operating
system calls in the unix manuals.  I think you'll find the unix version
much easier to understand than the convoluted Pascal routines on the
Mac side.

Don't get me wrong; I like (enough to spend several thousand of my hard-earned
dollars) Macs and use them extensively.  Same goes for unix systems.
To me, the real strengths of unix are its communications features and the
fact that it is a multi-user (not just multi-tasking) OS.  If you don't
need these things, perhaps it's not for you....


||| Boyd Ostroff - Tech Director - Dept of Theatre - SUNY Oswego 
||| Sys Admin - "The CallBoard" - (315) 947-6414 - 1200/2400 baud 
||| ostroff@oswego.oswego.edu - cboard!ostroff@oswego.oswego.edu