Re: [NTLK] OSX - OT

From: Sunder (sunder_at_sunder.net)
Date: Tue Feb 12 2002 - 11:43:43 EST


On Tue, 12 Feb 2002, [ISO-8859-1] Michael J. Hu=DFmann wrote:

> Jim Hill (jimhill_at_swcp.com) wrote:
>=20
> > and please, God, please let the users be the types of people who
> > think that a computer should be turned off every night so that the
> > system can get a fresh start the next morning.
>=20
> My Macs run 24/7 under Mac OS 9.2 and rarely crash. When they crash, it's
> for a reason and not just because they got bored or tired or the OS was
> leaking memory.

Um, yeah, because there are bugs, and bugs cause programs to crash, and
when programs crash they can take the OS down too. What are you running
that your Mac never crashes? Just the finder? I've had all sorts of
things crash my Mac, over and over again.=20
=20
> > For 30 years, Unix has been polished and enhanced.
>=20
> Same with Mac OS, just not for 30 years.

Untrue. Unlike Unix, MacOS hasn't had much development except by
Apple. Further, the development almost never consisted of rewriting code,
but rather just slathering on some more. There are some distinct
exceptions here such as the transition to 9, but, only some.

> > For not quite 20 years the Mac OS has become increasingly incapable of
> > handling the new demands placed on it.
>=20
> Unix is not an OS tailored for a personal computer, and it shows. It was
> never meant to be configured and controlled by ordinary users. Neither
> was it meant to be hidden under a GUI, which shows as well.

True, it's not tailored to be a desktop OS any more than Windows NT is
tailored to be a Network OS. But it makes for a very nice desktop
machine. OS X shows that. As does Irix, as does Linux with KDE. And
it's not tailored to be a DVR, but that didn't stop TiVo from being so
successful; it's not tailored to be a PDA either, but I like my Sharp
Zaurus, and think it can eventually be a good newton replacement. It's
wasn't tailored to be a web server either, but most of the web runs off
unix.

The point here is a very simple one. Unlike most OS's, it's scaleable.
And that's why it has survived and evolved for so very long. Sure, I
wouldn't want to use Minix on a 8Mhz 8088 with 8Mb of RAM today. But I
sure do use Sun machines. Even for desktops. :)

Try to go and find yourself someone with an Indy and check out Irix. =20
It's the closest I've seen a pre OS X (ok there is NeXTStep) Unix get to
being as nice as MacOS, and truly hide the guts from the user.

Me, I like unix, and love having a shell. I also like MacOS and Newts,
and single malt scotches. But that doesn't mean I'll hide from the fact
that MacOS <10 is unstable.

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