dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) (02/15/91)
In article <009441DD.664D58E0@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU> sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) writes: >Is there room for UNIX/RISC workstations in the business world? Maybe, if you >get some "killer" applications ported to the proper platforms. What are the >"killer" business applications? The "killer" business application for the UNIX/RISC workstation is very easy to imagine, but perhaps impossible right now to build. Consider what makes a UNIX/RISC workstation usable. No, it's not the large, flat address space. It's not the megapixels on the display. It's not the processor speed, the multi-tasking, the comprehensive set of utilities, the networking, or any of that stuff. All that stuff helps, to be sure, but businesses can buy all they want of it, and still fail to make any headway. Here is what makes the UNIX/RISC workstation usable: the person who knows how to run the damned thing. Every UNIX box I have used so far refuses to do any work until it has satisfied itself that somebody has devoted themself full-time to its care and feeding. The UNIX box doesn't give away power freely; the power comes at the cost of breathtaking complexity. The only way to get on top of that complexity today is to plow through hundreds of pounds of paper documentation, a task that takes most mere mortals a few human-years. So here is the "killer" business application that will put UNIX on every desktop: a program that simulates a UNIX guru. Any businessperson can immediately and successfully use a UNIX box that comes equipped with a UNIX guru who understands English and takes orders. Unfortunately, none of the UNIX vendors today know how to produce UNIX gurus as quickly and cheaply as they can produce iron. But the scarcity of UNIX expertise shuts out potential users who have other things to do with their time besides puzzle over system administration and interesting things like sendmail.cf. So build a program that does everything, or perhaps 95%, of what a good UNIX system administrator does. Or perhaps 99% of what a good UNIX system administrator could do over the telephone. I have no doubt that a good UNIX guru is more powerful than a good MS-DOS guru, simply because the UNIX guru has more to work with. Embed that power in a program, and there's your killer business app. Anybody who bought one could start making money with it immediately; those boxes would conquer the world. -- Dan Mocsny Internet: dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu
sysmgr@KING.ENG.UMD.EDU (Doug Mohney) (02/15/91)
In article <7458@uceng.UC.EDU>, dmocsny@minerva.che.uc.edu (Daniel Mocsny) writes: >Here is what makes the UNIX/RISC workstation usable: the person who >knows how to run the damned thing. Every UNIX box I have used so far >refuses to do any work until it has satisfied itself that somebody >has devoted themself full-time to its care and feeding. The UNIX >box doesn't give away power freely; the power comes at the >cost of breathtaking complexity. The only way to get on top of that >complexity today is to plow through hundreds of pounds of paper >documentation, a task that takes most mere mortals a few human-years. Well, I beg to differ here. I know hundreds (literally) of people who know the scantest thing about DOS, but manage to get Word Perfect or Lotus running and they're in heaven. The "Mac-ifying" of UN*X is occuring, as we have now with the NeXT box; turn-key system, pretty icons, easily installable applications. Software distribution might be easily done on CD-ROM and enough code thrown in. >So build a program that does everything, or perhaps 95%, of what a >good UNIX system administrator does. Or perhaps 99% of what a good >UNIX system administrator could do over the telephone. I have no doubt >that a good UNIX guru is more powerful than a good MS-DOS guru, simply >because the UNIX guru has more to work with. Embed that power in a >program, and there's your killer business app. You'll see more idiot-proofing of UN*X, easier installation of software, and probably some half-hearted attempts to put some AI into system management, kinda like AUTOGEN does for system tuning on VMS. Given the current tribal wars between OSF and System V, I doubt anyone is going to get around to releasing a "friendly" UNIX in the next 2-3 years. Doug Mohney, Operations Manager, CAD Lab/ME, Univ. of Maryland College Park * Ray Kaplan for DECUS president * SYSMGR@CADLAB.ENG.UMD.EDU