Re:The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf]
by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:09AM
(#19420702)
> But UNIX is so embedded now it would be a purely academic exercise
I guess I'm less pessimistic, because I don't think that's true. I think there are quite a few people like me who are fed up with the shit that exists today and really want a good alternative. I think we'd be willing to make quite a few sacrifices for something with a whole lot of potential.
What seems to be true is that there are very few people both capable of making that happen and bold enough to try to make it something people can actually use instead of just a toy academic project.
Re:The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf]
by incog-neato on Monday March 18, 2019 @09:55AM
(#19420989)
Do you blog much? I've been lurking here a lot and have seen your posts. Would be interested in long-form essays or the like on what you would like to see.
Re:The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf]
by AnIdiotOnTheNet on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:27PM
(#19426390)
I blog a little under my actual name, but I'd rather not tie that to this identity lest it make me less willing to express my stupidest and least popular opinions here, which I feel need to be exposed to criticism so I can better judge their merit. There's a reason my handle is what it is.
In the mainframe world, TOPS-10/20 and VMS were both exemplary. From the user POV, the former was one of the best command-line systems ever created, with none of the insane user-hostility built into UNIX command naming. Dave "VMS -> NT" Cutler absolutely hated Unix, and it shows.
But we're really comparing cinder blocks and potatoes. UNIX was designed as a hobby/student hacker tool, not as a general user OS. Many of the design choices are bizarre and frankly stupid, as the book delights in pointing out. But hackers love UNIX because using it just it feels just like hacking code, and that's considered a good thing.
It wouldn't be impossible to design an OS with powerful command line options but a sensible command naming system, much more intelligent and reliable security, a modern filesystem, and so on - and perhaps add some of the user configurability and extendability of the Lisp/Smalltalk/Hypercard(?) world.
But UNIX is so embedded now it would be a purely academic exercise.