Re: In Praise of Dos (RE: Mutt & tmp files)

[Petro <petro@auctionwatch.com>]

On Mon, Nov 19, 2001 at 12:30:34AM -0800, Martin Christensen wrote:
> >>>>> "Petro" == Petro  <petro@auctionwatch.com> writes:
> Petro> On Mon, Nov 19, 2001 at 10:24:05AM +0900, Howland, Curtis
> Petro> wrote:
> >> ps: From a personal perspective, I think Linux is about where
> >> Windows 3.0 was. This is not a troll, just a usability thing.
> Petro>     No, it's about where win3.11 was in a lot of ways. Modulo
> Petro> the stability &&etc.
> 
> I am just dying to find out why this is so. I find the unices I work
> with to be much more usable than any incarnation of Windows. So what
> exactly do you put into 'usability'?

    Consistency of UI, availibility and integration of applications,
    "slickness" of look and feel. 

    Under 3.1[1] applications had widely varying "look and feel", and
    were not well integrated, nor was the windowing system well
    integrated with the underlying OS (it didn't provide "proper"
    abstraction of things like file-systems, processes etc.). 

    With Windows 95, Microsoft changed a lot of that. Not that they did
    it *well* (the Win95 style interface gives me hives), but they
    provided a fairly consistent (if awful) interface, and a good deal
    of abstraction of the underlying hardware/OS. 

    Linux is still at the Win3.11 level in those regards. 

    Does this mean Linux isn't useable? Well, considering I've had at
    least one Linux box running at home since late 1993/94 (and had it
    installed on and off for about a year before that), I would have to
    say it's perfectly usable for those inclined to learn, those who
    have specific tasks it needs done. But I wouldn't put it on my
    mother-in-laws computer, or my moms. Then again, I wouldn't give my
    Mom a windows machine either (I gave her a Mac about 3/4 years ago,
    and she hasn't bothered to plug it in yet). 

    I like Linux, I think it's a *good* OS, and it's coming along quite
    nicely, but that doesn't mean I think it's easy to use. IMO, one of
    the biggest problems Linux is facing in it's quest to take the
    desktop is that (1) there are too many different groups working on
    UI stuff, and (2) Most of them think that the Win95 LOOK is right,
    but don't bother trying for the consistency. 

    Of course, my primary desk-top machine at home right now is a Mac
    running OS X. Which has some UI issues as well. 

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