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From: brian@umbc4.umbc.edu (Brian Cuthie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.next
Subject: Re: NeXT as a vanilla UNIX box (was Re: USENIX Summer 1991...)
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.001206.21922@umbc3.umbc.edu>
Date: 19 Jun 91 00:12:06 GMT
References: <4125@ssc-bee.ssc-vax.UUCP> <1991Jun17.113150.4890@elevia.UUCP> <12851@pucc.Princeton.EDU>
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In article <12851@pucc.Princeton.EDU> BVAUGHAN@pucc.Princeton.EDU writes:

 <all kinds of stuff about file servers deleted>

>thing and who will say, 'I'll try to get your data up tomorrow after
>I do my backups.' and 'I'm taking the system down for maintenance at
>two o'clock.  It shouldn't be down for more than a few hours.'  And
>this sys op won't be happy here, because system-wise we'll be a really
>small potatoes operation, so as soon as something better turns up we'll
>be looking for a replacement.  WE'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE! IT WAS CALLED
>MAINFRAME COMPUTING!  Say what you will about DOS, it liberated us
>from the tyrants in the computer room.  And if you call us dolts, we'll
>call you dorks!
>
>Barbara Vaughan

Well, if you can't smell the coffee, that is that client/server based
computing is the future, then: if the foo shits, wear it. (just kidding).

I agree with your sentiments that it is difficult to work with an MIS
department.  This is especially true if you are a small department in
a large organization.  However, who said the file server/backup device
has to be located outside the department.

As for the sophistication of University professors: I have been around 
the university for many moons.  A lot of these preople are great.  A lot
of them are very narrowly focused.  They would just as soon use a toaster
oven to do their computing if it worked.  They like PC's because they
are increadibly simple and do not require them to learn complicated JCL.
They also like the fact that having a PC on one's desk is power.  And in
an environment where turf and power are supreme, this counts for a lot.

My experience is that people tend to like their tools to be as simple
to use as possible.  Imagine the great market for a complicated hammer.
People (and I include myself in this group) want tools that are extremely
suited to the task and little else.  The PC is so popular because it
lacks, for all intents and purposes, any operating system.  It is alot like
a toaster computer.  Pop your favorite program in, and viola: it's just
like having a custom tool for the intended purpose.

However, as time goes by, people are also learning that there is a need to
integrate many independent functions.  They are getting tired of having to
deal with jotting down info from one program and then reentering it into 
another.  So, they want more sophisticated behavior from their computer
but they don't want to learn how to use it.  This, to a large extent is,
probably the single largest factor that segregates Macintosh (et. al.) users
from PC/Clone users. 

PC's most often are used to run only one or two programs frequently.  Mac 
users, on the other hand, tend to use many applications with great frequency.
It is fundementally incorrect to assume that because a computer has a GUI 
that it is "simpler" or less powerfull.  More often it is an indication of
a vastly more complex and powerful system.  One sophisticated enough to
hide many of the system's administrivia from the user and able to provide
a coherent user interface accross all applications.  So much so, that IBM
is said to be thinking of licensing the Mac operating system in exchange
for Apple using IBM's RS-6000 architecture (why evades me, but that's
not for this group).

In short, people in all walks of life have avoided using computers ever
since their inception, and they always will.  To quote the head of a
department on campus, who upon hearing of the impending replacement of the
card punch machines with VDT's (this was 9 or 10 years ago): "You can't
do that! How do you expect us to attract good faculty?"

-brian

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