From: Ian Macdonald <ian@...>
Date: 2002-06-22T02:44:17+09:00
Subject: Re: Why is I/O slow? (OT)

On Fri 21 Jun 2002 at 22:23:21 +0900, Austin Ziegler wrote:

> I'm more annoyed by the fact that basic GUI operations don't
> necessarily work as expected in X-Windows -- and it's not primarily
> the underlying window manager's fault. It's the fact that in the
> name of 'freedom and choice', consistency has been thrown completely
> out of the window by most developers of X software.

I don't use X apps very much. Pretty much the only X apps I regularly
use are Eterm, Mozilla and xmms (and, by extension,
WindowMaker). Everything else is terminal based.

When I need to run other apps, I try to stick with GTK software where
possible. This gives me the consistency that you speak of.

Of course, that's just the desktop side. We have thousands of headless
servers at work that neither have nor need GUI apps. I'm just not a
typical user.

> > I'm not advocating making Windows more like UNIX at all. I have no
> > interest in Windows beyond dealing with the fall-out that its
> > flawed applications create for the rest of the computing world.
> 
> Funny. I'll admit that there are a lot of flawed Windows programs
> out there -- that's not hard to admit. But there's a lot of flawed
> X-Windows programs out there, too. (There's a lot of flawed command
> line programs out there, e.g., find, for all of its power.)

Sure, but when I talked of fall-out, I didn't mean navigating the man
pages of complex commands like find and tar, but the repercussions of
running criminally negligent software like Outlook.

I'm not a Linux zealot, I hasten to add. Outlook, when coupled with
Exchange, has some tremendous functionality to offer, but for me, it
just doesn't weigh up against the nightmare of fending off virus
propagation.

Unfortunately, the sphere of influence of badly designed and
implemented Windows software extends beyond the desktops of those who
use it. An entire industry has sprung up around combatting e-mail
viruses, for example, which is entirely a gift from the Windows using
world.

Much of this doesn't matter to your average desktop user, of
course. He just wants to get his work done and could care less about
the plight of networked server admins. I understand and accept that.

Ian
-- 
Ian Macdonald               | volcano, n.:  A mountain with hiccups. 
ian@caliban.org             | 
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