TBLAKE@BINGVAXA.BITNET.UUCP (01/15/87)
Folks,
As a member of Academic Support, it falls upon me to help students,
and (worse) their teachers deal with the wonderful world of computers.
Personally, I'd prefer it if all people on this campus used Macintoshes,
and VAX/VMS. I think that anyone sufficiently advanced can handle CMS, or
MS-DOS. The problem is that there are many people on a College Campus who don't
fit that description. I'd hate to deal with all the questions that UNIX would
produce, I already have to deal with EUNICE questions from the small number of
EUNICE users we presently have.
There are some nice features of UNIX granted. Clarity is not one of
them. You don't need bells and whistles to teach the majority of students.
Students should learn concepts, not cryptic commands, and superstitious
behavior.
We may someday have a dedicated UNIX machine in the Computer Center.
That would be a service to our advanced students. Knowledge of UNIX is of
great value in the job market, but for the majority of our undergrads, I'd
like to keep them in VAX/VMS.
And please, lets remember that todays computer users are not all CS,
EE and math students. They're sociology, psychology, biology and english
students to name a few. People who have to do some stats, or write a paper.
MBA's who need to take a programming course or two. Most of these people have
no use for UNIX, and it would only be one more thing that is confusing about
those damned computers.
TBLAKE@BINGVAXA.BITNET Thomas R. Blake
TBLAKE@suny-bing.CSNET SUNY Computer Center
Binghamton, NY 13901
(607)777-6008