From: Spif <c642011@cclabs.missouri.edu>
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 95 18:16:10 PST
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: alt.religion.your.operating.system.sucks
In-Reply-To: <Pine.ULT.3.91.950129195932.7990A-100000@krypton.mankato.msus.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.SGI.3.91.950129200624.2535E-100000@sgi7.phlab.missouri.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Sun, 29 Jan 1995, Robert A. Hayden wrote:

> On Sun, 29 Jan 1995, Spif wrote:
> 
> > UNIX?  user hostile?  where have you been lately?  ever hear of X 
> > windows?  Indigo Magic Desktop?  these and zillions of other innovations 
> > have made UNIX more user-friendly than any other operating system I have 
> > used (which includes DOS, Windows, OS/2, and NeXTstep, among others).  
> 
> Sorry, I need to disagree here.   The first time I tried to configure X 
> for my Linux system, it barfed.  It also spewed on several subsequent 
> attempts, and this is with pretty standard hardware.  I finally found an 
> X guru locally and he fixed it for me.  At the very least, Windoze and 
> OS/2 and NeXT give you graphics out of the box, with no need to spend 
> several hours configuring it just to get basics up, and no need to try to 
> find some kind of user-oriented documentation to guide you through these 
> hassles. 

XFree86 was a snap to set up on my system, and I'm no guru.  In addition, 
Linux does not occupy the entirety of the UNIX spectrum - SGI systems, 
for example, give you graphics "out of the box", and so do many other 
workstation systems.  Granted, such machines are more expensive, but then 
we're talking about ease-of-use and power here, not cost.

> Now, I like Linux/Unix a lot.  It is really one of the better OSes out 
> there, but it isn't very friendly for the person that doesn't know what 
> they are doing, especially to configure basic apps.

I'm not a UNIX guru, as I said, although I do have some basic UNIX 
knowledge.  Slackware was, for me, one of the easiest installations I 
have ever done on any computer.  It was a breeze.

> > The only real barrier left to UNIX becoming the OS of choice is 
> > commercial app support (things like word processors and etc. becoming 
> > readily available and inexpensive).
> 
> I agree.  If I could get a WYSIWYG word processor for X that was as 
> robuse as MS Word or Wordperfect, I'd be a very camper.

in fact, there are version of Wordperfect (and perhaps MS Word as well) 
for UNIX systems... they're just more expensive and less immediately 
available in the marketplace.

    Bryan Venable               | c642011@cclabs.missouri.edu
    Student & MOO Administrator | wlspif@showme.missouri.edu
    U of Missouri - Columbia    | spif@pobox.com
    SGI/Netscape/MOO addict     | spif@m-net.arbornet.org
    Spif or Turmandir @ MOOs    | http://www.phlab.missouri.edu/~c642011 

             <insert standard university disclaimer here>