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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.
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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!