From: "Robert A. Hayden" <hayden@krypton.mankato.msus.edu>
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 95 18:03:53 PST
To: Spif <c642011@cclabs.missouri.edu>
Subject: Re: alt.religion.your.operating.system.sucks
In-Reply-To: <Pine.SGI.3.91.950129192639.2535A-100000@sgi7.phlab.missouri.edu>
Message-ID: <Pine.ULT.3.91.950129195932.7990A-100000@krypton.mankato.msus.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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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. 

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.

> 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.

____        Robert A. Hayden       <=> hayden@krypton.mankato.msus.edu
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