alex@xicom.uucp (Alex Laney) (01/08/90)
Some people have (sort of) brought up the old Dos vs Unix issue. One point I feel that I have to refute is the idea that you have to read a cubic metre of documentation to use Unix. And that this is somehow different than using MsDos. I work for a company that makes products for the MsDos, MsDos LAN, Unix, QNX marketplaces. By far the most complicated is the MsDos LAN environment, complicated by Software Development. You have multiple suppliers with their various styles of documentation, etc. Now it is true that, on the average, any MsDos application is more mature than a Unix application. (re: online help) SCO has probably the best attitude of all the 386 Unix vendors: you can install just the basic run-time system, so that you can run just applications, without getting into the complexity of installing all the other pieces. This is just like what MsDos has done for the marketplace, remove unnecessary complexity. What has unfortunately hurt Unix in the office perceptions is this idea of all these weird programs that are part of Unix. Huh, what, I've got to 'grep' this file and pass that to 'awk'. Computer people who are ignorant, I guess I really mean Sales/Marketing jump on this sort of innuendo and hurt the Unix marketplace. It is a real myth that MsDos is user-friendly and that Unix is less. When you get into specific business application-to-application comparisons then it is generally true. The cubic metre only comes into play when you want to install the complete Unix system. And that is comparible to MsDos, plus Compiler, plus Development Tools, plus Electronic Mail, plus Networking. In that case I am certain that the MsDos system has more manuals. Anybody need a spokesman for Unix? The company I work for is getting out of Unix products, so I'm available... -- Alex Laney, Xicom Group, National Semiconductor, Ottawa, Canada (613) 728-9099 uunet!mitel!sce!xicom!alex (alex@xicom.uucp) Fax: (613) 728-1134 "You save time, increase the amount of work done and it is easy."