Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!csg.uwaterloo.ca!giguere
From: giguere@csg.uwaterloo.ca (Eric Giguere)
Subject: Unix/X Windows (was Re: Windows for Amiga?? Maybe!!)
Message-ID: <1990Nov23.160840.10973@maytag.waterloo.edu>
Summary: arrrggghhh!
Keywords: painful, unwieldy
Sender: daemon@maytag.waterloo.edu (Admin)
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 90 16:08:40 GMT
Lines: 52

In article <2642@kirk.nmg.bu.oz> cameron@kirk.nmg.bu.oz (Cameron Stevenson) writes:
>Not wanting to put a dampener on this discussion, but surely Unix/X is the
>emerging OS/GUI multi-platform choice. Think about it. On many of the
>machines out there, there is a Unix/X option - even if it is not the native
>combination. For this reason, I think Commodore have done it just right (by
>offering a choice that conforms to this multi-platform "standard")

I got into this discussion on BIX, so I might as well repeat this here:  it's
my opinion that Unix and/or X Windows is not a viable platform for a single
user environment.  Given the choice between Exec/AmigaDOS/Intuition and      
Unix/X Windows, I would certainly choose the former!

Unix and X Windows work, but only because (a) they were designed for multi-user
environments, (b) they work on fairly high-powered machines, and (c) they have
full-time support staff.  Now (a) doesn't mean that a single user can't use
the machine, and (b) doesn't necessarily apply anymore since the distinction
between high-end personal computers and workstations is blurring.  But what
about (c)?

No one who uses Unix can actually realize how much work and how many arcane
incantations you have to go through to administer a Unix system.  Imagine
this, if you will:

   1. Joe Shmoe goes to his local dealer and buys a Unix box.  The Unix
	  is pre-installed so he doesn't have that headache to worry about.

   2. Joe Shmoe sets up his Unix box and makes himself an account.  If
	  the system is user-friendly then there's a shell program to do this,
	  otherwise he has to edit the /etc/passwd file by hand (and probably
	  has to learn "vi" to do this --- disincentive enough!) and do all
	  the magic stuff.

   3. Joe Shmoe now wants to connect his modem and printer to the new
	  machine.  The manuals are probably useless in this case, so he phones
	  up his dealer, etc. etc.

Really, I think there's a problem here.  Of course, setting up X Windows
is non-trivial if it doesn't come preinstalled as well.  And we haven't
even mentioned networking/UUCP.

And in many situations I think that the multi-user philosophy gets in
the way when the machine is really just being used by one person.

Also, don't forget that X Windows is such a resource hog that you'll need
lots of memory and/or swap space.

In short, I think that for single users there will always be an AmigaDOS/
Microsoft Windows type of option.  Certainly for the low end of the market.

--
Eric Giguere                                       giguere@csg.UWaterloo.CA
           Quoth the raven: "Eat my shorts!" --- Poe & Groening