Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ut-sally!nather
From: nather@ut-sally.UUCP (Ed Nather)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Echo Off!   Solution!
Message-ID: <10885@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: 24 Mar 88 20:18:37 GMT
References: <2110@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> <1256@nbires.nbi.com> <10063@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 24

In article <10063@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com>, davidsen@steinmetz.steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr) writes:
> Why flame Microsoft. When users requested a feature they provided it. 

No, they really didn't.  They made a fundamental design blunder in the first
place -- "echo off" should have been the default condition.  There is no
disadvange whatsoever: you could use "echo on" if you WANTED the stupid
thing to echo.  This blunder was evident in DOS 2.0.  People complained.
Out came DOS 2.1 with the same stupidity entrenched.  More people complained.
Out came DOS 3.0 with the idiocy intact.  Still more people complained.
DOS 3.1 came out.  Guess what?  Well, maybe in DOS 3.2?  No, ignorance
remained triumphant despite voluminous complaints, and a flood of patches
and fixes on BBSs and computer networks nation-wide. Now, DOS 3.3 -- is
"echo off" the default, at long last? NO!  You STILL have to include
"Echo off" in EVERY batch file, and shut up its own echo with an "@"
symbol.  WHY?

When Microsoft responds to individual user's complaints will be the day
the earth stands still.

-- 
Ed Nather
Astronomy Dept, U of Texas @ Austin
{allegra,ihnp4}!{noao,ut-sally}!utastro!nather
nather@astro.AS.UTEXAS.EDU