werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) (02/22/88)
support for COMP.SYS.MAC2 and opposition to COMP.UNIX.AUX several different group names have been mentioned to find a home for articles related to the Macintosh-][ and I am rather opinionated on the choice of group-names, because they can make my life a lot harder or easier, depending... I'll try to put my thoughts into the form of questions and answers and explain why I think that creating a group named COMP.SYS.MAC2 is a good idea, whereas a group named COMP.UNIX.AUX is a bad one: 1) do we need to split off a group dedicated to the Mac2 from comp.sys.mac? yes, because the machine is significantly different from the Mac and the number of articles addressing topics of exclusive interest to Mac2-users has reached a very high level. Also, the level of traffic in comp.sys.mac is so high that splitting it is of immediate urgency. 2) what should be the name for a group addressing the mac2? The Mac2-group should not be a sub-group of comp.sys.mac (i.e. be named comp.sys.mac.mac2) because the Mac2 is architecturally and conceptually a different machine which only, incidentally, runs some "MACish" software, and is likely to split into subgroups itself within the coming year. thus a group named COMP.SYS.MAC2 is the obvious choice. 3) should there be a group for the topic of A/UX ? yes, but I do not think that this is an alternative idea to the creation of a group for the Mac2, in general. At this time, I believe that the A/UX topic is best discussed in a group COMP.SYS.MAC2 and when the traffic justifies, that a subgroup COMP.SYS.MAC2.AUX be created. 4) what's wrong with a group named COMP.UNIX.AUX? the way I understand it, the group-naming hierarchy represents a a logical way of subdividing topics of common interest. Now, it is my perception that A/UX is mostly of interest to MAC2 users and should therefore be discussed in a group created for the MAC2 or a sub-group thereof; On the other hand, it is likely that there is not very much interest in A/UX by the traditional reader of UNIX-groups, unless s/he is a (prospective) MAC2-user, of course. Personally, I would like the continued convenience of being able to follow all topics of interest by using the command: readnews -n comp.sys.mac2 as this will also present to me all the subgroups to be created later (for sure) .... (the only reason that the binaries and sources groups do not follow this scheme is to make it easier for sites to unsubscribe to all sources and binaries group - while carrying all comp.sys.mac groups) at the same time, I look forward to being able to ignore all Mac2-related articles with a simple: readnews -n comp.sys.mac PS: Earlier this week I had posted an article formally proposing the creation of a group named COMP.SYS.MAC2 and requested your votes mailed to me. I missed crossposting that call for a vote to comp.sys.mac which is the reason why I am cross-posting this one. I will force follow-ups to go to news.groups, exclusively. The text of my original posting to news.groups follow below: I propose the immediate creation of "comp.sys.mac2" as a first, obvious step towards relief (for articles of interests to Mac-][ owners, exclusively). owners of Mac-][s will, probably, continue reading the comp.sys.mac group unless, of course, they only use A/UX and not the Mac-OS. Several articles listed arguements for and against such a split during the last 3 months and I do not believe that much new can be added (but don't let me stop you) ... so I volunteer to receive and count votes (address below) Please, do NOT POST your votes - send them by Email. Consult your local Email-guru, if you have problems getting mail to me. I would also like to encourage someone else to propose some other new sub-group and to collect votes - I do not think that such a group would be an alternative to a group for Mac-][s ... -- werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu or werner%rascal@im4u.utexas.edu (prefered) kraut@emx.cc.utexas.edu or werner@astro.as.utexas.edu kraut@ut-emx.UUCP (or ...!ut-sally!utastro!werner)
jwhitnel@csi.UUCP (Jerry Whitnell) (02/26/88)
In article <2465@utastro.UUCP> werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) writes: >1) do we need to split off a group dedicated to the Mac2 from comp.sys.mac? > yes, because the machine is significantly different from the Mac and > the number of articles addressing topics of exclusive interest to > Mac2-users has reached a very high level. The Mac II is not significantly different from the Mac Plus in that it runs all the same software that the Plus and SE runs. This assumes you are running the Mac OS and not A/UX. The only differences are the color quickdraw and the obvious hardware differences. Of course, there is lots of interest in Mac Plus/SE specific hardware as well, so the above arguments apply for forming a comp.sys.mac.classic group as well. Which would leave comp.sys.mac for the common traffic that applies to both machines. >4) what's wrong with a group named COMP.UNIX.AUX? > the way I understand it, the group-naming hierarchy represents a > a logical way of subdividing topics of common interest. Now, it is > my perception that A/UX is mostly of interest to MAC2 users and > should therefore be discussed in a group created for the MAC2 or > a sub-group thereof; On the other hand, it is likely that there > is not very much interest in A/UX by the traditional reader of > UNIX-groups, unless s/he is a (prospective) MAC2-user, of course. I don't agree with the above at all. As a Mac II owner, I have no interest in A/UX. I also think there are alot of other Mac II owner's that bought their Mac II as a fast Macintosh with color, not as a platform to run A/UX. As Macintosh owners, we are all interested in Mac software and issues. People who buy A/UX are interest in UNIX (TM) primarily and not so much in the hardware base it runs on. Hence the issues that concern them are UNIX issues. The only common interest the Mac II owners have with those running UNIX is the hardware it runs on and that is a relativly small percentage of the messages on the Mac II. So in summery, vote yes for comp.unix.aux and no for comp.sys.mac2. Note that I overrode your followup to post my counter-arguments. Followups also to news.groups. >-- >werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu or werner%rascal@im4u.utexas.edu (prefered) Jerry Whitnell Been through Hell? Communication Solutions, Inc. What did you bring back for me? - A. Brilliant