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From: jess@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Jess M Holle)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.misc,comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Open Letter to an MS-DOS User
Message-ID: <1991Mar27.221220.22757@gn.ecn.purdue.edu>
Date: 27 Mar 91 22:12:20 GMT
References: <1991Mar27.061608.23203@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <1991Mar27.091029.18566@lynx.CS.ORST.EDU> <1991Mar27.201319.4604@jato.jpl.nasa.gov>
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
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In article <1991Mar27.201319.4604@jato.jpl.nasa.gov> dave@elxr.jpl.nasa.gov writes:
>
>With good reason. GUIs interfere with throughput for us real professionals.
>I can do things at least 4 to 5 times faster without a GUI in the way.
>

I'm sorry, but I don't buy the "real professionals use text interfaces"
argument. I have been using computers for years on a daily basis, and have
found that for the day to day needs of at least this user (and I do not
consider myself a computer nitwit) command line interfaces waste enormous
amounts of time. Granted, if your work consists of altering low level system
parameters all day long or something of that nature, a command line interface
has its advantages, but most computer users are not engaged in this type of
work. For quick incorporation of calculations, graphics, and text from as many
as 6 or 7 programs into a single document, the Mac interface allows a much
more seamless interface. Upon discovering the need for another analysis in a
report, the analysis program is but a click away. The results can then be
integrated into the report without any more effort than Copy, click, Paste. I
have yet to see anything in a non-GUI environment approach this efficiency.
DOS offer nothing that approaches this. UNIX allows process switching with
nearly equal ease, but still causes far more hassle when Copy and Paste type
procedures are called for.

Jess Holle