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From: peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: Re: Keyboards etc...
Message-ID: <2772@ficc.uu.net>
Date: 16 Jan 89 16:30:04 GMT
References: <8901160212.AA29231@pinocchio.UUCP>
Organization: Xenix Support
Lines: 26

In article <8901160212.AA29231@pinocchio.UUCP>, bzs@pinocchio.encore.com (Barry Shein) writes:
> Actually, that's an interesting topic if we can get over the red-faced
> memories, what technological innovations in the recent past did *YOU*
> think were going to be the end-all/be-all and just sort of fizzled?

UNIX.

For the past 6 years or so, I've been telling myself a personal UNIX system
was just around the corner. Early attempts like the HP Integral flopped, but
I could rationalise it with "well, that's HP. They're always too expensive.",
or "AT&T couldn't market their way out of a paper bag."

I am still mystified as to why people think MS-DOS is just fine. Today's
MS-DOS is a larger program than the old PDP-11 V7 UNIX... and it's a less
desirable working environment. Sure, V7 isn't up to the quality of SV or
BSD, but it's smaller, faster, and more powerful than what most PC owners
put up with. There's no technical reason why you shouldn't be able to get
a $2,000 user-friendly UNIX box (like the HP-Integral, but without HP
prices).

And if something so basic can go awry, what good our plans?
-- 
Peter da Silva, Xenix Support, Ferranti International Controls Corporation.
Work: uunet.uu.net!ficc!peter, peter@ficc.uu.net, +1 713 274 5180.   `-_-'
Home: bigtex!texbell!sugar!peter, peter@sugar.uu.net.                 'U`
Opinions may not represent the policies of FICC or the Xenix Support group.