brownell@harvard.ARPA (Dave Brownell) (08/31/84)
One of the stronger points AT&T has made about what they're doing
with further UNIX releases is that they're making it "user friendly".
Now I have some objections to that word. It doesn't, for example,
capture the notion of "expert friendly" (UNIX's traditional strength)
or the notion that different sorts of users want the programs to
behave differently.
What do you all think about that? I always think of the user interface
along two dimensions: the naivete of the user, and how frequently they
use the system. A naive user wants things cut and dry, very simple;
an experienced one wants all the flexibility out in the open. Someone
who uses the system infrequently will want more prompting, but not
neccesarily more handholding. (An infrequent user could be a forgetful
expert who knows what can be done, but forgets how, and DOES need all
the power.)
Does anybody know details of what AT&T are doing to create UNIX-friendly
users? Post responses here -- this group is pretty quiet, considering
how important the topics discussed here should be.
Dave Brownell
Sequoia Systems Inc.
sequoia!brownell@harvard.ARPA
{allegra floyd ihnp4 seismo}!harvard!sequoia!brownell