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From: smithrd@gc49.UUCP (Randy D. Smith)
Newsgroups: net.mail,net.unix-wizards
Subject: Re: Re: hayes & uucp
Message-ID: <209@gc49.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 16-Feb-86 18:59:34 EST
Article-I.D.: gc49.209
Posted: Sun Feb 16 18:59:34 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 17-Feb-86 06:12:13 EST
References: <363@geowhiz.UUCP> <252@maynard.UUCP> <743@ttrdc.UUCP>
Reply-To: smithrd@gc49.UUCP (Randy D. Smith)
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Technologies, Guilford Center, NC
Lines: 30
Xref: watmath net.mail:1432 net.unix-wizards:16808
Summary: hindsight is 20/20, or better

In article <743@ttrdc.UUCP> levy@ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) writes:
>... I don't
>see why uucp didn't have custom configuration for modems even in the
>beginning!  It would have saved LOTS of headaches and hacking....)

In the beginning?!?  IN THE BEGINNING?!?  Just how many "modems" do you
think were in existence "in the beginning"???  Remember, this was a "research
experiment" (or some-such), NOT a production system.  Remember also that
these were the days of "The Phone Company", and she controlled ALL units
that connected to her sacred end points.  Hayes & co. were just a twinkle
in the entrepeneurs' eyes at the time!

The UNIX(tm) System is just chock full of useful utilities, most of which
probably started out as relatively simple, but elegant, tools in the bins
of their originators.  (I know, I know; no one can look at the code for uucp
and think that this was ever the case for it...)  Sure they should have
been re-engineered before releasing as a production system, but the
"release" of the UNIX System was very much a result of the whims of time,
and not a well thought out, well engineered plan to revolutionize the
computer world.  To look back and say in hindsight that "foo should have
been done bar way, not bletch way" is a bit presumptuous.

(NOTE:  I normally don't like disclaimers, but I think I should state that
this is my opinion alone, and not that of my employer...  I also know that
some of my statements suffer from the same hindsight problem that I am
complaining about.)
-- 
				Randy D. Smith	(919) 279-5312
			AT&T Technologies, Guilford Center, NC
			....!{ihnp4,burl}!{gc49,gc3ba}!smithrd