Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!know!sdd.hp.com!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!ni.umd.edu!sayshell.umd.edu!louie
From: louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT multi-media message file format
Message-ID: <1990Oct17.023356.28549@ni.umd.edu>
Date: 17 Oct 90 02:33:56 GMT
References: <8263@milton.u.washington.edu> <9304@milton.u.washington.edu> <9314@milton.u.washington.edu> <896@toaster.SFSU.EDU>
Sender: usenet@ni.umd.edu (USENET News System)
Organization: The University of Maryland, College Park
Lines: 26
Nntp-Posting-Host: sayshell.umd.edu

In article <896@toaster.SFSU.EDU> eps@cs.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) writes:
>The RFC describing Berkeley's Line Printer protocol wasn't issued
>until August 1990, but no one seemed to have any trouble
>implementing it and making it the de facto standard over the
>years.

The fact that the source code for the Berkeley line printer software was
available had quite a bit to do with this, I'm sure.  I'd be surprised if
people implemented the line printer protocol "by observation".

>NeXT has a pretty good track record for adherence to standards,
>when such standards exist.

I have to disagree here.  NeXT visited this NetInfo crock upon us, when a
good distributed computing environment like Athena (with Kerberos, Hesiod,
etc) already existed.  They could have provided significant added value
by providing those services with a sexy NeXT user interface.  What I have
today is NetInfo, turned off as much as possible since I operate in a
hetergenous envrionment for my "interpersonal computing."

Don't get me wrong; I think that they have a wonderful product, and I'm 
buying a NextStation for myself.  I just think that there's a little too
much NIH syndrome here and there that detracts from they truly wonderful
work that they've done.

louie