Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!ucsd!nosc!helios.ee.lbl.gov!pasteur!ames!vsi1!unisv!vanpelt
From: vanpelt@unisv.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Plan 9? (+ others)
Summary: Rodent infestations
Message-ID: <583@unisv.UUCP>
Date: 24 Aug 88 22:02:02 GMT
References: <846@yunexus.UUCP> <282@umbio.MIAMI.EDU> <848@yunexus.UUCP> <10533@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>
Reply-To: vanpelt@unisv.UUCP (Mike Van Pelt)
Organization: Unisys Silicon Valley, San Jose, CA
Lines: 22

In article <10533@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com> smb@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (Steven Bellovin) writes:
>``Plan 9'' ... is research ...  The developers started from
>several basic assumptions: ... that an intelligent user interface
>(complete with dot-mapped display and mouse) is a Right Decision;

Argh!  Mice!  I hate meeces to pieces! :-)

I certainly hope (well, actually, from what I know about the people
involved, I'm reasonably confident) that if they must design a
system that is "user (*bletch*) friendly", they make it one which
does not cripple the person who (a) knows what they're doing and
(b) is not stricken with nameless dread at the sight of a "%" prompt.

But seriously, making the system easier to learn (which you must only do
once) at the expense of making it harder to use (which you must do every
day) is a mistake which far too many people are making these days.  One of
the strengths of Unix is that it is very easy to use, at the expense of
its oft-cited "User unfriendliness".
-- 
Mike Van Pelt                     Help stamp out Mickey-Mouse 
Unisys Silicon Valley                computer interfaces --
vanpelt@unisv.UUCP                Menus are for Restaurants!