slocum@hi-csc.UUCP.UUCP (05/15/87)
apollo-request@YALE.ARPA writes: > Before making absurd comments ... get some of your > information straight. It looks like you better take your own advice, before making comments. As a previous poster has said, 'talk' is supported by Apollo. >... My suggestion to you is that if you really want to use > "talk" (I wouldn't know why, given that telephone communications would > be much more efficient), ... First of all, programs like 'talk' and 'write' are very useful for asking about program specifics, where pathnames, literals, errors, etc. can be passed verbatim, using 'cut' and 'paste'. At present, it is very difficult to do this over the phone. Maybe someday ATT will catch up. My comment about the whole question about 'talk' and 8 character logins is: let's be consistent. If you are going to make restrictions, like 8 character names, only on a particular piece of software, trouble is sure to insue. To my mind, software should first work on the machine in question, Apollo for instance, before making it work for heterogeneous machines. If you must be inconsistent, make sure that the documentation clearly states ALL of the implications that are known. This would have saved Mr. Giebelhaus considerable effort in trying to install 'talk'. He could have seen just what kind of trouble to expect, and then decided not to make the attempt.