Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site packet.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!hao!hplabs!hpda!fortune!amd70!packet!cfv From: cfv@packet.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Re: UNIX: INHUMAN FACTORS Message-ID: <302@packet.UUCP> Date: Thu, 7-Jul-83 19:14:52 EDT Article-I.D.: packet.302 Posted: Thu Jul 7 19:14:52 1983 Date-Received: Sat, 9-Jul-83 17:50:55 EDT References: <825@ittvax.UUCP> <471@cvl.UUCP> Organization: PacketCable,Inc. Cupertino, CA. Lines: 21 You give me the best machine in the world and I can write the worst human interface you can imagine (i.e. Unix/Inews). You give me the worst computer in the world and I can still put a GOOD interface on it and make it very useful (I did it once on a CDC Cyber/Nos in fortran IV.) It may not be EASY to do, but it can be done. User interfaces are not controlled by the underlying system, they are influenced by them. The reason many Unix interfaces are bad is because many of them were written by people (I won't use the word hacker) who weren't trained in user interfaces and who didn't write with user interfaces in mind. If you want to look at the difference a little though can do, look at inews/readnews/vnews for an interesting revolution. (I LIKE vnews...). The thing to blame the bad interfaces on is not Unix, Nos, or whatever. It is the iunstructors and curriculums that lead students to believe that the only thing that matters is the programming. I find that the least significant part of any project I put together is the actual coding, but I found that in school the coding end had a disproportionate percentage of the curriculum.... -- >From the dungeons of the Warlock: Chuck Von Rospach ucbvax!amd70!packet!cfv (chuqui@mit-mc) <- obsolete!