Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!orca!mesa!rthomson
From: rthomson@mesa.dsd.es.com (Rich Thomson)
Newsgroups: comp.arch
Subject: Unix made easy (was Re: globbing furniture)
Message-ID: <1991Jan23.003505.21615@dsd.es.com>
Date: 23 Jan 91 00:35:05 GMT
References: <6388@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
Sender: news@dsd.es.com
Reply-To: rthomson@dsd.es.com (Rich Thomson)
Organization: Design Systems Division, Evans & Sutherland, SLC, UT
Lines: 41
Nntp-Posting-Host: 130.187.85.21

In article <6388@exodus.Eng.Sun.COM>
	work@dgh.Eng.Sun.COM (David G. Hough at work) writes:
>The comp.arch problem for the 1990's is how to provide
>a way for consumers to benefit from the power of Unix without actually
>knowing anything about it, and without diminishing the availability or
>the underlying power for the craftsmen.

How about what the people at NeXT have done?  Although their interface
is proprietary, they do have a really easy way to interact with Unix.
Admittedly it steals alot from the Mac, which in turn stole alot from the
Xerox PARC work, but it seems easy to use.

I have heard of several prodcuts that claim to make unix easy to use
and work on top of X windows; I haven't used any of them, but there
doesn't seem to be any clear market winner.

I think the world likes the desktop metaphor, but Unix won't be really
taking off until something better (and more aligned with Unix's
capabilities and strengths) comes along.

For instance, 

o   How do I create a symbolic link in the icon-based world?
o   How do I connect multiple programs through pipes in the icon
    world?

etc., etc.

The Mac-like interface just gets you one visualization of the file
system mostly (I am discounting things like menus and desk accessories
because they aren't as relevant to the unix community where things
like window managers and widget sets handle alot of this stuff).  What
is needed to make unix easy is a visualization of the interaction of
system programs, the file system, and shell commands.

						-- Rich
-- 
  ``Read my MIPS -- no new VAXes!!'' -- George Bush after sniffing freon
	    Disclaimer: I speak for myself, except as noted.
UUCP: ...!uunet!dsd.es.com!rthomson		Rich Thomson
ARPA: rthomson@dsd.es.com			PEXt Programmer