Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watcgl.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watcgl!drforsey
From: drforsey@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Forsey)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Re: Save your money
Message-ID: <344@watcgl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 19-Feb-86 16:05:32 EST
Article-I.D.: watcgl.344
Posted: Wed Feb 19 16:05:32 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Feb-86 07:15:05 EST
References: <851@brl-smoke.ARPA> <1833@trwrba.UUCP>
Reply-To: drforsey@watcgl.UUCP (Dave Forsey)
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 37
Keywords: BIX
Summary: 

In article <1833@trwrba.UUCP> jsisi@trwrba.UUCP (Dan Jones) writes:
>
>I agree 100% that BIX in it's current state is worthless unless you happen
>to be a fan of J.E.Pournelle's mad meanderings.
>
>At the present time, even the
>worst message system on an old RCPM system is superior in ease-of-use and
>functionality.  As an extended conferencing system, it certainly fares poorly
>even in comparison with USENET.  You just thought there were a lot of pointless
>articles here.  On BIX, there is no logical way to avoid the pointless drivel.
>(Maybe someday one of the system people at BIX will consider a system as well
>thought out as rn.  Then again, probably not.)

Back before BIX was available I had a "COSY" account at the University
of Guelph where the original BIX system was developed. 
I had numerous discussions with people there about the form of the BIX 
user-interface and its functionality.

The major problem seemed to be that the design was mainly controlled by
people whose main experience seemed to be from Data Processing in the
IBM tradition (i.e. people who view card punches as the ultimate in 
user interfaces and who give blank stares when you mention hierachial 
file systems), and by the fact that they wanted the system to run 
easily on anything. Thus because this lowest common demoninator was a goal,
many things were sacrificed.

It got to be so frustrating talking with these people that I ended up
just posting an edited version of the man page for "rn" just to try
and stir things up. No (as in nothing) response at all. 

Note that the person implementing the thing voiced similar complaints,
but he had little say in what the final form of the system would be.

Dave Forsey
Computer Graphics Laboratory
University of Waterloo
Waterloo Ont. Canada.