astrog@garnet.berkeley.edu (Eric Korpela) (05/05/89)
In Article <GRIFF.89May3172946@intelob.intel.com> griff@intelob.intel.com (Richard Griffith) writes > [nothing of any import] > [several flames] > Let's cut the systems wars, guys. I've used many many windowing systems and not one of them is truly inadequate. They all do have problems but a lot of those problems are being solved. Windows: Used to be slow as hell, but that's been solved in the 386 version. Versions 1 and 286 only offer limited "cooperative" multitasking. 386 version offers true multitasking, though. Display speed is largely display dependent. If you use a slow VGA card be prepared to wait. Nice ability to handle many programs at a time (even in version 1) and swap dormant ones to disk. Amiga Workbench: Nice multitasking, but this is the least user friendly windowing system I've seen. You can't get by without the CLI. Nice and fast because of the BlT, though. The displays are real ugly. In general the graphics are not as good as they could be because of the poor quality of the monitors used on most amiga systems. GEM and ST GEM: I haven't used ST GEM too much, but I assume its a lot like PC GEM. It's nice and fast because it doesn't try to do too much at once. The displays are good and it does what it's supposed to. Crashes a lot less often then the previously mentioned ones. (I guess the latest versions of Amiga WB and Windows 386 are getting better, though.) Mac Finder: Used to be you couldn't play with a Mac for 10 minutes without crashing it, but at long last the finder works when you want it to. That is as long as you don't try a recently released upgrade. Apple seems to have a problem with releasing new versions before they are debugged. But overall this is the most polished of the interfaces. Some would say it's the most intuitive, also, but I think they say that because it's the one they learned first. Mac Multifinder: People asked for multitasking and they got it, well, almost. They got the ability to have multiple apps in memory almost running together. The print spooler works, though. The mutlitasking implemented is cooperative multitasking, not time slicing, so don't expect it to be "real" multitasking. The early releases were buggy. I don't know how it is now, because I haven't used it for over a year. Personally I liked "Switcher" better. Xwindows: Well, this one depends on where you use it and what window manager you use. Right now I'm using Xwindows on a PC RT with "rtxwm" I have to say it's like no other windows interface. It took me a while to learn to keep the arrow in the window I'm typing in. But I still use it, and it seems to be catching on. For distributed processing on different types of machines it can't be beat. Little software supports it though. (Now that is.) Sun View, DEC VMS windows interface, NeXT, ...: I've probably used most of them, but not enough to comment on their usability. These are my honest opinions. None of the interfaces is truly outstanding. Lets just forget the "my machine is better than yours" messages and get on with our lives. The differences between PC systems are in general marginal. They do what you program them to do. Unless you have a CRAY XM/P on your desk your machine is little different than those the rest of us use. /\ korpela@bkyast.berkeley.edu Internet /__\ rioch BKYAST::KORPELA 42215::KORPELA DecNet / \ of Chaos korpela%bkyast@ucbjade Bitnet (_____________________ <aka Eric Korpela> Why should the UC care what I say. According to them I'm not an employee.