From: jamesd@com.informix.com
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 95 20:59:43 PST
Subject: Even more unix holy war. Was "Clinton freezes U.S. assets .."
Message-ID: <9501270500.AA00284@carbon.informix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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I am writing this under sun's unix imitation of Microsoft's
and Apples GUI.  I am using their almost acceptable ASCII editor.

I leave a window open for a long time.

Then I attempt close down the window, an operation that I can
do in Microsoft Windows with a single double click.  In unix 
I click on the border to bring to popup a menu, carefull drag 
to the right point on the menu, then release.  In addition 
the menu names are confusing.  If you want to minimize a 
window you have to "close" it.  If you want to cause a window 
to cease to be, you have to "quit" it -- Hey did I not already 
quit it when I forgot about it and went to do something else.


A warning message comes up:  I have not saved.  I am offered the 
options of quiting or not quitting.

Gee guys, did it never occur to the great unix gurus that at 
this point the option that the user most likely wants to do 
is save the file.  How come the number one most common option
is not in the message box.

A thought strikes me.  I have set up Microsoft windows 
with a little icon that allows me to reboot or close down 
windows with a single double click.

What will happen if I attempt to reboot unix.  Well the answer
is obvious, seeing as unix is made of broken glass with sharp
edges everywhere, working on the principle of "You asked for
it sucker, you got it, Ha Ha, massive data loss to prove you
are no good at unix."

So I go to a terminal emulation box  (Notice how under unix
windows the number running app is terminal emulator, whereas
in Microsoft windows people use Windows applications.)

I make myself root, and enter my root password.  I type sync
three times, and then type reboot. And lo, unix reboots.

Note that this is substantially more work than double clicking
on an icon.  Note also that rebooting takes *much* longer than
with DOS/Windows.

And, as can be predicted from unix basic operating philosophy
(Cut the stupid users throat if you can) my open edit windows
are cut down *without* any message boxes popping up giving
me the option of saving this file before the reboot proceeds.

Eventually, at long, long, long, long, long, last, Unix
deigns to come back and give me some windows.

Naturally the test edits that I did just before rebooting are
lost, as I expected from the basic unix 
cut-the-stupid-suckers-throat philosophy.  

What I did not expect is that one of the files I *did* want (and
saved immediately before rebooting), has not only not kept the
changes I made -- the file has completely DISAPPEARED! -- Too
bad sucker -- that will teach me -- maybe next time I will type
six sync commands before rebooting as a sacrifice to the great
God unix in the vain hope that it will spare my data.

Or perhaps no number of sync commands could make a difference
because some network hiccup postponed the file save, (I was saving
to a network drive) so that the file only *appeared* to be saved,
but was in reality somewhere on my machine, or somewhere on the
network, in unsynced limbo, and my privileges are not such that
I can sync the network.  Or perhaps it is just another of the
many profound mysteries of unix that enable unix gurus to make
a living.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          |  
We have the right to defend ourselves     |   http://www.catalog.com/jamesd/
and our property, because of the kind     |  
of animals that we are. True law          |   James A. Donald
derives from this right, not from the     |  
arbitrary power of the omnipotent state.  |   jamesd@netcom.com