Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!uwvax!vanvleck!uwmcsd1!ig!agate!helios.ee.lbl.gov!lll-tis!oodis01!uplherc!sp7040!jsp
From: jsp@sp7040.UUCP (John Peters)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Porting utilities to the ST.
Message-ID: <426@sp7040.UUCP>
Date: 19 Jun 88 15:24:09 GMT
References: <203@eutrc3.UUCP> <1615@alliant.Alliant.COM> <1043@atari.UUCP> <6332@cup.portal.com>
Organization: Unisys, Salt Lake City, UT
Lines: 44

In article <6332@cup.portal.com>, Henry_Burdett_Messenger@cup.portal.com writes:
> 
>    Ugh. More UNIX weenies trying to determine our future.
> 
>    "I guess it's better than having them pump quarters in Pac-Man games...
>    "            - John C. Dvorak
> 
>    Not always! Sometimes computer companies listen to them and lose their
>    shirts (e.g. Fortune Systems).
> 
>    It's 1988 and UNIX still S*cks. GEM ain't the greatest, and I'd rather
>    have X, but I have to have a brain-damaged operating system that's older
>    RT-11, for pity's sake! No thanks, I'll pass.
> 
>    Besides it usually isn't GEM; it's usually TOS. Yes, TOS is awful. Can
>    you say "CP/M with fender flares"? I knew you could. But UNIX is even
>    worse... (Hmm, you'd never know I'm a VMS person, would you :-)
>     "UNIX compatibility is snake oil."
>                               - Ken H. Olson
> 
>    Henry B. Messenger (DEC can have its own opinions, I have mine)

	For one minute lets look at why UNIX is becoming popular.  Did 
somebody say hundreds of utilites.  And what is this compilers (C and Fortran)
come standard with the operating system.  And could it be that even from DEC
UNIX is about a third the base price of VMS.  Wow and VMS comes with what,
golly gee an assembler and some system monitors.  Geese if I want to use
a compiler I have to pay how much more.  You have obviously not been involved
with a company that need to get alot out of little money.

	Now about using UNIX as a standard for the ST.  I will admit that
UNIX is not perfect (thats how I make my living).  However, we need to start
somewhere and GEM/TOS is not it.  Also imagine trying to rewrite VMS for the
ST.  Talk about a system eats the system.  UNIX, because of a basic 
simplicity runs 2 to 3 times as fast as VMS (my own bench marks ran as a 
user on both operating systems running on identically configured MicroVAX
II's at 3 in the morning with nobody else on.

	So untill you can come up with VMS for the ST or write VMS utilites
for the ST, please don't badmouth those people who are porting UNIX
utilites to the ST.  Don't use them if you don't want to but I use them
often and really appreciate the hard work that have gone into them.

					--  Johnnie  --