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From: elmanad@leland.Stanford.EDU (Adam Elman)
Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.apps
Subject: Re: Why even use Windows x.xx?
Message-ID: <1991Apr13.235447.16349@leland.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 13 Apr 91 23:54:47 GMT
References: <10960@uwm.edu> <1077@hrshcx.csd.harris.com> <11003@uwm.edu>
Organization: AIR, Stanford University
Lines: 47

In article <11003@uwm.edu> markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark William Hopkins) writes:
>In article <10960@uwm.edu> markh@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Mark William Hopkins) writes:
>>   Maybe I missed the boat somewhere, but what is so great about windows
>>anyhow?  What does it get me that I already can't get with reasonable command
>>shell, a good editor and a few good UNIX-like utilities?
>
>In article <1077@hrshcx.csd.harris.com> steved@hrshcx.csd.harris.com (Steve Daukas) writes:
>>I personally like having folders.  For me, it makes it easier to find
>>things that I havn't worked on for a few years - I don't have to remember
>>what sub-sub-sub-subdirectory it might be in.  Its more like my file 
>>cabenet or my desk.
>
>This is actually one of the things I had in mind when asking the question.
>The find command, or even better, piping ls -R through grep would give you that
>kind of utility and a bit more.  I use that all the time on my PC.
>
>>I don't mind because I still have access to the command line, and I can take
>>advantage of those features of the GUI that are useful to me.
>
>I played around with Amiga Workbench for a while (which Windows appears to be
>practically the same thing as), but basically had to go to the command line
>interface, when it started becoming apparent that the windows were getting in
>the way of actually talking to the machine.  It felt like wearing a hood with
>a window-shaped viewer in the front while talking to another person, and it
>really wears down on your productivity.  I use the multi-tasking ability of
>the machine, but rarely in the windows environment.

This debate has been going on for a long time.  Basically, it comes
down to this: SOME PEOPLE LIKE GUIs AND SOME DON'T.  Some people, like
you, feel that the command line is the quickest and simplest way to
"talk" to the computer, and a shell like Windows just gets in the way.
Others, on the other hand, find DOS or UNIX commands cryptic and
difficult to learn, and for those people it is MUCH, MUCH easier to
copy a file by dragging it between windows than to learn how to use
pathnames, or to use a simple pull-down menu than to remember a
cryptic function-key combination.  On the other hand, some feel that
the pathname or the function-key combo is QUICKER, and it's worth it.
So at least for now (and I doubt that this will change for a LOOOOONG
time), there is still plenty of software that doesn't use a GUI, and
if you've tried Windows (or the Amiga Workbench, from what I've seen
they are very similar, or for that matter a Mac), and you don't like
it, there's no reason to change.

So to sum up, it IS a matter of personal taste.

Adam Elman
elmanad@leland.stanford.edu