Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!ncoast!allbery
From: allbery@NCoast.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.sysv386
Subject: Re: '386 Unix Wars
Message-ID: <1990Dec29.040006.697@NCoast.ORG>
Date: 29 Dec 90 04:00:06 GMT
References: <51537@bigtex.cactus.org> <355@metran.UUCP> <51823@bigtex.cactus.org>
Reply-To: allbery@ncoast.ORG.ORG (Brandon S. Allbery KB8JRR)
Followup-To: comp.unix.sysv386
Organization: North Coast Computer Resources (ncoast)
Lines: 28

As quoted from <51823@bigtex.cactus.org> by james@bigtex.cactus.org (James Van Artsdalen):
+---------------
| In <355@metran.UUCP>, jay@metran.UUCP (Jay Ts) wrote:
| > Job control, line editing?  Do you think that office workers use the shell?
| > Mostly, they are entering data and making menu selections.
| 
| Sounds like their existing software is Mess-DOS.
+---------------

Most of our (Telotech, no relation to ncoast) customers run either Uniplex or
MS Word, either Informix or Unify 2000, and/or RealWorld accounting --- all
from AOM menus.  All Unix.  And very few of them ever use the shell or would
know what to do with job control (indeed, I expect "bug reports" from
customers on ACS5000's when SCO Unix 3.2.2 comes out --- we got them on the
AViiON, which has job control).

Most office workers couldn't care less about the shell.  They want an easy-to-
use menu system, the OS is irrelevant.  These are neither sysadmins nor gurus;
they just want the silly computer to do what they tell it to do, and prefer
that telling it what to do be as easy as possible.  (Which I can't fault;
after all, my primary home machine is a Mac.)

++Brandon
-- 
Me: Brandon S. Allbery			    VHF/UHF: KB8JRR on 220, 2m, 440
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