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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.mel.connect.com.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.hawaii.edu!ames!enews.sgi.com!decwrl!pa.dec.com!depot.mro.dec.com!rtnews.rto.dec.com!news From: urban@nasaxp.rto.dec.com (Robert L. Urban) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc Subject: Re: Netbsd and that other operating system Date: 9 May 1996 13:38:44 GMT Organization: A poorly-installed InterNetNews site Lines: 37 Message-ID: <4mssh4$ckr@rtnews.rto.dec.com> References: <4mjmhd$lq3@newsource.ihug.co.nz> NNTP-Posting-Host: nasaxp.rto.dec.com X-Newsreader: knews 0.9.5 In article <4mjmhd$lq3@newsource.ihug.co.nz>, cdhudson@ihug.co.nz (clive Hudson) writes: > >On the other hand we have Lunix and Netbsd plus Freebsd etc. These operating >systems are free but hard to use. They may be powerful and have features that > [...] > >However the tools are available to make the free unix's such as Netbsd user >friendly. It couldn't be too hard to build a package that included basic unix >binaries and x windows with a window manager such as firststep, with a couple >of user packages such as word processor, spreadsheet and Internet >applications. You might argue that red hat lunix provides this , but I >disagree, many common user functions are not easy to use and a novice >computer user is more of a danger to himself than anything else. Surely its >not to hard to build a idiot proof x windows shell that allows basic user >functions to be easily done, which also protect the user from her/himself. > > I have often thought about this subject... I imagine with WinBlows95 (aka Lose95), Microsludge has created an operating system that is approaching the complexity of Unix, but when you combine configuring the kernel, X11, configuring the various subsystems, managment in general (in a transparent way), and so on, I suspect the level of complexity is too high. Who knows... maybe there is a opportunity here. On the other hand, don't you think that all the major unix vendors have been thinking about this problem? (I can't speak for Digital, that's not my department :-)) -- Rob Urban Digital Equipment GmbH Freischuetzstr. 91 81927 Muenchen Germany