Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!hellgate.utah.edu!fcom.cc.utah.edu!news From: burchard@math.utah.edu (Paul Burchard) Subject: Re: UI idea (<-- note: does not say "CLI bashing" :-) Message-ID: <1991Jun4.083513.29406@fcom.cc.utah.edu> Keywords: GUI, SystemWorks,drag-and-drop Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu Organization: University of Utah Computer Center References: <1991Jun3.210917.1157@math.ucla.edu> Date: Tue, 4 Jun 91 08:35:13 GMT In article <1643@toaster.SFSU.EDU> eps@toaster.SFSU.EDU (Eric P. Scott) writes: > I believe that any attempt to eliminate CLIs is barking up the > wrong tree. Often, a shell *is* the best tool for the job, and > there's a lot to be said for the UNIX "tools" philosophy--build > small modules that do one thing (or a few things) well, rather > than construct behemoth "integrated applications" with slick > GUI interfaces but limited capability. Eric, I absolutely agree---but proposing GUI enhancements has nothing to do with outlawing csh or forcing anything ``less functional'' on people. On the contrary, the idea is to make the GUI *more* functional, useful, and yes, tool-oriented. And, as Barry pointed out, better-integrated with the CLI overall (this was in essence the one real criticism BYTE leveled at NeXTstep in their big GUI report this month). On several people's suggestion I picked up Kadobayashi's SystemWorks app. I like it!---it has a *really cool* graphical UNIX pipeline editor and monitor. (It is very much in the prototype stages right now, though. I hope enthusiastic users will help Kadobayashi-san work out some of the rough spots in the UI.) SystemWorks has the potential to be more flexible than what I suggested, and is a good idea in any case. The main disadvantages of its approach relative to the drag-and-drop scheme I suggested would be the extra screen space used for monitoring the pipelines, and the lack of `generic functionality' (everything must be explicitly scripted in advance). Anyway, it sounds like this is something NeXT should be thinking about---I'll let them know people are interested.... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Burchard ``I'm still learning how to count backwards from infinity...'' -----------------------------------------------------------------------------