Comments | ornoth: There’s a reason it was named after Eunuchs

ornoth

There’s a reason it was named after Eunuchs

Oct 13, 2007 12:18

Call me a revolutionary, but I don’t see any reason why we should use an operating system that was intentionally designed to be user-unfriendly, and which was designed 40 years ago, back when 8-track tapes were the state of the art and the two-byte difference between “copy” and “cp” was really, really important.

I still marvel as my Linux weenie ( Read more... )

usability, technology, humor, unix, computers

Comments 10

imperator_mei October 13 2007, 20:11:06 UTC

OS X excepted, I assume.

ornoth October 14 2007, 13:07:15 UTC

I think so. What little time I've spent on it, it seems reasonably stable and less arcane than X Windows based systems. On the other hand, I've seen a lot of people struggle with bad Apple hardware, most recently a series of bad fans in MacBook Pros.

dafyddcyhoeddwr October 13 2007, 22:57:13 UTC

I've hated Unix since I was first introduced to it, and it still boggles me that our DBAs are not only still fluent in emacs, but some even prefer it to a gui text editor ...

The day that Apple built OS X over Unix was a very sad day for me. I'm fortunate to never have had to delve beneath the amazingly resiliant GUI that is Apple's claim to fame.

I, for one, would dearly love for Unix to vanish into the ether. Or at least get sophisticated enough to enable a password of more than 8 bytes!

awfief October 14 2007, 07:32:08 UTC

Certainly I think Unix/Linux/BSD/System V/Solaris/Whatever is bad for a *desktop*. For servers they're useful.

Being a DBA, I can tell you that a GUI text editor is wonderful when I'm typing a memo and want different formatting. However, when I'm typing a query, I'll use vi or Notepad on Windows, because I'm just copying and pasting text, and don't need anything else.

Also, being a DBA and doing some systems work, most of the stuff I do involves "log into blah server and do this". So my Windows desktop at work is a web browser and a way for me to login to other systems and do work.

But for most folks, and for my personal stuff, yes, Windows is better than Unix. Personal stuff being creating and editing a podcast, video, blog posts, web browsing, editing books, getting music/podcasts onto my ipod, etc. That stuff would all be a pain in Unix.

ornoth October 14 2007, 13:16:25 UTC

I think the desktop vs. server is a valuable point. When it works, and when someone has taken the time to create software for it, Unix performs.

But I work with developers who build software for it. These are people who are highly technical, prefer unix, and have worked under it for years if not decades. And I am continually amazed at how much of their time is spent rebuilding file systems, patching drivers, and trying to figure out an unnecessarily arcane syntax in order to perform simple tasks. I couldn't imagine the world we'd have if its advocates had their way, replacing our sales and accounting folks' machines with Linux boxes.

awfief October 14 2007, 16:38:32 UTC

*nod* The developers at work mostly use Windows, and use an IDE or just plain login to a development box. We have a website, and I can't imagine running the site on the local machine (windows or linux) is really desired behavior. Particularly since the developers all share a development database.....and I can't imagine them running a db on their machines as well.........

Yeah. I was happy about Mac OS X mostly because they put a good UI on a stable OS, and I don't have to reboot every week. I like that I can double-click to install something, but I also don't have to install ssh or deal with an annoying ssh program. It's just ssh.

Thread 6

unsound October 14 2007, 02:44:26 UTC

It's against my better judgement to engage in anything so close to a debate over platforms and their relative merits, but I would like to respond to this: Unix is not a serious platform for anyone who wants to actually get work doneYour argument is flawed. At best, you could argue that Unix is not a serious platform for *you* to get work done on, or that you've seen others struggle with said platform. One person's effective tool may be useless to another person. I know A person who literally does everything in emacs; while I find this to be a mind boggling choice, it's what works for him and it certainly *does work*. More, it's been a viable and consistent tool for twenty years ( ... )

ornoth October 14 2007, 13:25:47 UTC

It's true that certain people can be proficient under unix. On the other hand, I work with highly technically trained developers who have worked under unix for years, and who enthusiastically advance its universal adoption as a desktop computing platform. And I am amazed when I see how much of their time is spent rebuilding a corrupted file system, patching drivers, and figuring out unnecessarily arcane syntax for performing simple everyday tasks. Even for that highly specialized and motivated population, it doesn't seem like a very effective solution ( ... )