forrest@blia.BLI.COM (Jon Forrest) (11/17/86)
I apologize for several factual mistakes in my recent submission about my initial comments about the Amiga. Yes, it does have pattern matching, and directories are deleted with the delete command. I would have thought that a generally implemented facility as pattern matching would be described in the introductory sections of the manual instead in the text of the description of a specific command. Now that I think about it, having the DELETE command delete directories instead of a specific RMDIR command is a good idea. I'm going to compose a general response to the replies I've gotten but I wanted to apologize for my mistakes first. Jon ucbvax!mtxinu!blia!forrest
conte@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (11/19/86)
> /* Written 11:01 am Nov 17, 1986 by forrest@blia.BLI.COM in uicsrd:comp.sys.amiga */ > I apologize for several factual mistakes in my recent submission > about my initial comments about the Amiga. Yes, it does have pattern > matching, and directories are deleted with the delete command. ... > I'm going to compose a general response to the replies I've gotten > but I wanted to apologize for my mistakes first. > Jon Jon, why did you write the initial note in the first place? These types of notes displaying ignorance and usually loathing get sent to every bboard about every computer. I am stimied as to why. I know I wouldn't own a C64, for example, for a number of reasons, but I wouldn't just use it for a short time then whip off a T=451 degree F flame to a forum for C64 owners saying, "hey your pleeby machine is a wanky piece of ... ." You must have expected replies back scorning you. Indeed, you admitted you had read such notes in the past and thought the posters were anally retnetive (a paraphrase). Why did you do it? There is a difference in my mind between complaining about the deficiencies of a computer when it is compared with full knowledge of its features, and making up ones mind on holistic and fuzzy first-impressions and then taking these wet complaints to the machine's experts. Computers are more complex and layered than automobiles, yet people treat them with the same test-drive- around-the-block philosophy. All the layers of a computer are not apparent from the users interface-- surely not without manuals. Indeed, after driving a Yugo around the block, would you whisk off a piece of air-mail to Yugoslavia to the car's designers? Since C-A and many developers read net.micro(comp.sys. amiga), this is essentially what you've done. Can someone help explain to me why these messages of the flavor of sending the-owner-of-computer-bleb-mail-saying-bleb-sucks are so prolific across the net? Tom
ed@plx.UUCP (Ed Chaban) (11/24/86)
> > > /* Written 11:01 am Nov 17, 1986 by forrest@blia.BLI.COM in uicsrd:comp.sys.amiga */ > > I apologize for several factual mistakes in my recent submission > > about my initial comments about the Amiga. Yes, it does have pattern > > matching, and directories are deleted with the delete command. ... > > > I'm going to compose a general response to the replies I've gotten > > but I wanted to apologize for my mistakes first. > > Jon > > Why did you do it? > > There is a difference in my mind between complaining about the deficiencies > of a computer when it is compared with full knowledge of its features, and > making up ones mind on holistic and fuzzy first-impressions and then taking > these wet complaints to the machine's experts. Computers are more complex > and layered than automobiles, yet people treat them with the same test-drive- > around-the-block philosophy. All the layers of a computer are not apparent > from the users interface-- surely not without manuals. Indeed, after driving > a Yugo around the block, would you whisk off a piece of air-mail to Yugoslavia > to the car's designers? Since C-A and many developers read net.micro(comp.sys. > amiga), this is essentially what you've done. > > Can someone help explain to me why these messages of the flavor of sending > the-owner-of-computer-bleb-mail-saying-bleb-sucks are so prolific across the > net? > OK here goes. The question here is one of OPINION which each of us is free to express. The sad part about about these complaints are that they are seldom taken seriously. I owned an amiga for SIX MONTHS and was unable to get reasonable customer support from CBM. I waited FOUR of those months in anticipation of receiving my manual set. Your analogy to automobile manufacturers is erroneous. Do I need to be an expert on automotive engineering to judge whether the car performs to my satisfaction? Granted, many of the complaints expressed in the original posting were a result of ignorance, but I was in the same boat when waiting those Four F*cking months for may manual to arrive. ======================================================================== _____O_____ Ed Chaban /___________\ Plexus Computers Inc. | _ | _ | Phone: (408) 843-2226 | |_| | |_| | Net: sun!plx!ed | _ | _ | | |_| | |_| | | _ | _ | | |_| | |_| | "Have a Jelly Baby?" | | | -The Doctor |_____|_____| > Tom *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE ***
jec@iuvax.UUCP (11/24/86)
I've heard the Shell vs. Command wild card story before, but there
seems to be a solution on the Amiga that someone should have looked into if
they haven't already and that is library wild card expansion. This way you
have the option of expanding or not expanding on a per command basis, but
you also are able to have a standard method of expansion that can be easily
changed by the [sophisticated?] user. It also has the advantage on the Amiga
of taking up less space since all the command can share the library.
It might be a little too late for this idea, but I thought I'd bring
it up in case it isn't.
III Usenet: iuvax!jec
UUU I UUU jec@indiana.csnet
U I U
U I U Phone: (812) 335-5561
U I U U.S. Mail: Indiana University
UUUIUUU Dept. of Computer Science
I 021-C Lindley Hall
III Bloomington, IN. 47405conte@uicsrd.CSRD.UIUC.EDU (11/27/86)
>>/* Written 11:07 am Nov 24, 1986 by ed@plx.UUCP in uicsrd:comp.sys.amiga */ >> >> > /* Written 11:01 am Nov 17, 1986 by forrest@blia.BLI.COM in uicsrd:comp.sys.amiga */ >[Jon's appology:] >> > I apologize for several factual mistakes in my recent submission >> > about my initial comments about the Amiga. ... >> > Jon >>[My first reply:] >> >> Why did you do it? >> >> There is a difference in my mind between complaining about the deficiencies >> of a computer when it is compared with full knowledge of its features, and >> making up ones mind on holistic and fuzzy first-impressions and then taking >> these wet complaints to the machine's experts. ... >> >> Can someone help explain to me why these messages of the flavor of sending >> the-owner-of-computer-bleb-mail-saying-bleb-sucks are so prolific across the >> net? >> >> [Now Ed's reply to my reply of Jon's appology (get out your road map):] > OK here goes. The question here is one of OPINION which each of us is > free to express. The sad part about about these complaints are that they are > seldom taken seriously. I owned an amiga for SIX MONTHS and was unable to > get reasonable customer support from CBM. I waited FOUR of those months in > anticipation of receiving my manual set. > ... > *** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** *** MY MESSAGE *** It seems my message must have been garbled and I still think my point is valid based on the old adage that, "you should not judge a book by its cover." Though opinions are and should be expressed freely, there is a responsibility on the part of those who express them to guarantee that before they do so, they have their facts straight. This was the intent of my automobile analogy. > Your analogy to automobile manufacturers is erroneous. Do I need > to be an expert on automotive engineering to judge whether the > car performs to my satisfaction? Indeed, no. To repeat what I said... >> ... >> making up ones mind on holistic and fuzzy first-impressions and then taking >> these wet complaints to the machine's experts. Computers are more complex >> and layered than automobiles, yet people treat them with the same test-drive- >> around-the-block philosophy. All the layers of a computer are not apparent >> from the users interface-- surely not without manuals. Indeed, after driving >> a Yugo around the block, would you whisk off a piece of air-mail to Yugoslavia >> to the car's designers? Since C-A and many developers read net.micro(comp.sys. >> amiga), this is essentially what you've done. My main idea was that the metric that people use to evaluate cars is not applicable to computers. The portion concerning contacting the designers of the Yugo was meant to read: "why do people who wouldn't dare argue something technical on a topic they know not much about to someone who does, turn around and do exactly that via electronic mail?" (Perhaps using extending the anology of automobiles to cover this concept too was a bad idea-- alas, as the Latin proverb says, "all anologies limp." :-) > Granted, many of the complaints expressed in the original posting were > a result of ignorance, but I was in the same boat when waiting those > Four F*cking months for may manual to arrive. That is not an excuse for someone who is writing an article for a magazine, especially when the manuals are for sale in about four out of five of the bookstores I walk into in nearby shopping malls. > ======================================================================== > _____O_____ > Ed Chaban /___________\ > Plexus Computers Inc. | _ | _ | > Phone: (408) 843-2226 | |_| | |_| | > Net: sun!plx!ed | _ | _ | > | |_| | |_| | > | _ | _ | > | |_| | |_| | > "Have a Jelly Baby?" | | | > -The Doctor |_____|_____| > No, thanks. >> Tom Tom uucp: {ihnp4,seismo,pur-ee,convex}!uiucdcs!uicsrd!conte arpanet: conte%uicsrd@a.cs.uiuc.edu or conte@huey.udel.edu csnet: conte%uicsrd@uiuc.csnet bitnet: conte@uicsrd.csrd.uiuc.edu