Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ames!ucsd!sdcsvax!ucsdhub!esosun!seismo!uunet!vsi!friedl
From: friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: OS/2 is the result of anticompetitive practices by IBM and Microsoft
Message-ID: <653@vsi.UUCP>
Date: 11 May 88 03:35:38 GMT
References: <1623@looking.UUCP> <1612@looking.UUCP> <3094@edm.UUCP> <3230@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>
Organization: V-Systems, Inc. -- Santa Ana, CA
Lines: 25

In article <3230@pasteur.Berkeley.Edu>, faustus@ic.Berkeley.EDU (Wayne A. Christopher) writes:
> When people say that PC's should run Unix, they don't care about the
> filesystem code or the details of administration (as long as it's not
> too bad).  They want it to look like Unix, to have ^Z and vi, and for
> their Unix application programs to run on it with no modifications,
> which means system call compatibility.

     I would venture to say that the vast majority of multiuser
computer users (UNIX included) are entirely unaware of *anything*
inside their machine, and this includes filesystem code, admin,
^Z, vi, ls and date.  When I was in school I assumed that people
used computers for the same reason I did, and at least they were
generally comfortable with the shell.  In the time then it has been
my overwhelming experience that this is false.

     Most of my customers run business applications, and many of
them *never* see a shell and would be scared/confused if they
did.  Sure, there are some technical markets with smart users
(like us :-) ) but I really think that when people say "Yes, I'll
buy your accounting/payroll/whatever package" they very well may
not have ever heard of UNIX.

     People buy computers to solve problems, and they are
generally unconcerned about the details.  As long as the package
does what they need ans as long as the box has a nice, safe-
sounding name on the outside (IBM, AT&T, etc.) they don't often
look any further.

     Anybody else have something to say on this?

-- 
Steve Friedl    V-Systems, Inc. (714) 545-6442    3B2-kind-of-guy
friedl@vsi.com    {backbones}!vsi.com!friedl   attmail!vsi!friedl