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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!brl-adm!seismo!rochester!ritcv!rocksvax!martyl
From: martyl@rocksvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: IBM new 'standard'
Message-ID: <911@rocksvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Mar-87 18:09:22 EST
Article-I.D.: rocksvax.911
Posted: Mon Mar 23 18:09:22 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 26-Mar-87 01:09:11 EST
References: <701@imsvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: martyl@rocksvax.UUCP (Marty Leisner)
Organization: Xerox: Henrietta, NY
Lines: 52

In article <701@imsvax.UUCP> ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) writes:
>What I mean is this: that over the next couple of years, numerous
>slick-talking people are going to be coming up with all kinds
>of reasons for abandoning our happy single-user DOS world and I, for
>one, intend to tell all of them to go **** themselves.  The reasons for
>replying thusly to anyone trying to foist a closed-architecture system
>on us should be obvious even to the blind.


Interesting, the debate of single versus multi user systems comes up again!
I agree with a lot of your points, Ted, but you're a little too emphatic to
suit me.

Giving 1 cpu to everyone is fine, but what about peripherals?

I am using a PC AT on the ethernet as a compiling engine, doing all my text 
editing on a Xerox 6085 (a windowed workstation). I'm currently running 
MS-DOS, but that will probably change in the near future.  In fact, I'm trying
to convince my manager and the people I work with to go multi-user in order
to get better peripherals (i.e. more RAM, more disks, tape backup, etc.).  I 
figure I use perhaps 1% of the processor cycles available on my PCAT -- on
MS/DOS, running with a RAM disk, I just can't believe how fast the machine 
compiles C programs.  386?  (Yeah, it has 32 bit pointers and paged VM).  But
to run MS/DOS?  I don't see why it's necessary.

Running multi-user also provides certain economies of scale.  People I work
with have used Unix Machines in college for coursework.  They logon, learn
vi and can compile their C programs without problem.  The search paths for 
binaryies, include files, libraries, etc. are already set up in their 
account.   It's a good idea for people to learn about these things, but
it takes initiative.  Also, to some extent, I'd rather not know about these
assorted things which are necessary to use a system.  It's often easier and
more productive to get help from someone responsible for system maintainance.
After all, I'm not really paid to learn how to use my operating system/envir-
onment.

Single user systems force every one to become expert in system administration
tasks. In organizations, it gotta be more efficient to have only a few 
people good at system administration, the rest can concentrate on their
mainline activities.  It is also far easier to update system software on
multi-user systems than walking around to everyone's machine with the update
disk or expecting everyone to do their own updates.

When I got my PC it was a painful process to get up to speed on how
everything works.  Also MS/Dos comes with essentially no software support.
All these vendors sell MS/DOS packages which work like unix -- who's in the
shadow of who???.  At least if I buy and install a Unix system, it comes
with a set of utilities which do most of the things I'm gonna wanna do.   

marty leisner
xerox corporation
leisner.henr@xerox.com