Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!uwvax!oddjob!hao!noao!mcdsun!fnf
From: fnf@mcdsun.UUCP (Fred Fish)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: The Next Generation
Message-ID: <516@mcdsun.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 17-Nov-87 11:49:23 EST
Article-I.D.: mcdsun.516
Posted: Tue Nov 17 11:49:23 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Nov-87 21:48:58 EST
References: <5294@ccicpg.UUCP> <2803@cbmvax.UUCP>
Reply-To: fnf@mcdsun.UUCP (Fred Fish)
Organization: Motorola Microcomputer Division
Lines: 36

In article <2803@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
>in article <5294@ccicpg.UUCP>, harald@ccicpg.UUCP ( Harald Milne) says:
>> 	Although the Amiga is multitasking, and not multiuser, this is
>> an advantage. There is no reason to support the multiuser feature of UNIX
>> on the Amiga, simply since it isn't. (After all, it is MY machine)
>> I call it multitasking without the excess baggage!
>
>I'm REAL GLAD someone mentioned this too.  Every time someone starts to talk
>about how neat it would be to run multiuser stuff on their Personal Computers,
>  [stuff deleted...fnf]
>Multiuser is the same kind of thing.  If you can't use all the power of your
>Personal Computer yourself, get a cheaper PC.

Well, in general I agree with the premise that a personal computer should
be allocated to a single individual, but this really doesn't mean that
having multiuser capabilities isn't useful.  Very often you want to use
the multiuser protection features to protect you from yourself, to set
up alternate environments for doing different sorts of things, etc.  For
example, even though I have a Sun-3 all to myself at work, I still have
several different logins that I use depending upon what I want to work on
at the time.  Each provides a slightly different environment and different
permissions for what can and can't be done with the system.  Running a
multitasking system without multiuser capabilities is equivalent to running
as root all the time on a Unix system, something that VERY few experienced
Unix people would do.

Thus just because the computer has multiuser capabilities doesn't mean
that you have to have more than one user active at a time.

-Fred



-- 
# Fred Fish    hao!noao!mcdsun!fnf    (602) 438-3614
# Motorola Computer Division, 2900 S. Diablo Way, Tempe, Az 85282  USA