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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.works
Subject: Re: Unix & Workstations
Message-ID: <3428@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Dec-83 19:19:05 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.3428
Posted: Wed Dec 28 19:19:05 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Dec-83 19:19:05 EST
References: <14834@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 39

Nathaniel Mishkin asks:

	...despite its problems, Unix appears to be becoming a standard.
	Why?  I suspect for a number of reasons...

He then cites conservative designers, possibly-imaginary compatibility
with other Unix systems, and seemingly-low cost.  He has missed the three
biggest reasons:

	1. It runs on everything.  (Well, nearly.)  Why spend man-decades
	building your own new system when a few man-months of effort will
	suffice to port Unix?  Sure, it isn't the answer to everyone's
	prayers, but the cost/benefit ratio is still most impressive.
	I suspect this is the major reason for its use on many oddball
	gadgets like the Cray-2:  it's the easiest way to get a decent
	operating system.

	2. We need a standard, even if it only serves as a point of
	departure for future work.  Unix is the obvious candidate, with
	wide enthusiasm and respectable functionality.

	3. (The Big One) It's one of the best things going.  Like Algol
	and Pascal, it's an improvement not only on most of its predecessors,
	but also on most of its so-called successors.  Of course it has
	flaws, but it's an appealing mix of simplicity and power.  Systems
	like that are uncommon, and deliberate attempts to improve on them
	seldom capture the same magic elegance.

I agree that better things are possible, although I have grave doubts
about most of the current attempts to produce them.  Sooner or later
somebody will come up with something strikingly better and it will then
start to replace Unix.  But it really will take something *strikingly*
better, and that will probably be the result of new insights rather than
attempts to "patch" Unix.  Until then, remember that most of the other
possibilities are worse.  Sure, you can do better than Unix for a
workstation.  But you can easily -- very easily -- do a lot worse.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry