etb@milton.u.washington.edu (Eric Bushnell) (04/20/91)
ok, here's my $0.02 worth on the "better is better?" issue. Better really is better, *as long as* we have a standard (or at least a convention) to fall back on. A case in point: The apollo ACLs are a good idea, but I don't like being forced to trust that /sys/node_data is secure despite all rwxrwxrwx+ permissions I see there. Another: The built-in, point-and-click DM file viewer and editor is WONDERFUL, but I and a few others here still have uses for vi, and we'd be happier if didn't wreak havoc in a pad. The DM is fine, except when it makes background jobs a pain to use. So what(!) if apollos were supposed to be single-user machines?! Some single users would like to be able to log out while their jobs run. Prf is fine, for the few printers it supports, but lpd/lpr can be made to work with lots of cheap and common devices that many of us have and would like to continue to use. I am reminded of an article I read yesterday, in either Unix Review or Personal Workstation (I think), which discussed the merits of a "both/and" attitude rather than an "either/or" attitude. Yes, I know that it's more difficult and more expensive to design a product that is both "Better" and "Able to be Conventional," but some customers can't afford the leap of faith required to buy something that may be "Better," but will make their previous investment of *time and effort* (as well as money) obsolete. Yeah, maybe "it's always been this way." That doesn't mean everybody's happy about it, and it doesn't mean it has to stay that way. So, that's my bandwidth for the day. else does, and customers run after them waving money, well...too bad. -- Eric Bushnell Univ of Washington Civil Engineering etb@u.washington.edu
etb@milton.u.washington.edu (Eric Bushnell) (04/20/91)
In article <1991Apr19.174125.24438@milton.u.washington.edu> etb@milton.u.washington.edu (Eric Bushnell) writes: > >else does, and customers run after them waving money, >well...too bad. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Such sloppy editing! 8-) I assume most of you ignored that bit of supposed-to-be-deleted gibberish. -- Eric Bushnell Univ of Washington Civil Engineering etb@u.washington.edu