Xah Lee's Unixism

[Brian Inglis]

On Tue, 31 Aug 2004 19:30:38 +0000 (UTC) in alt.folklore.computers,
Ian Wilson <scobloke2 at infotop.co.uk> wrote:

>David Schwartz wrote:
>
>> 'unixism' has nothing to do with *using* UNIX.
>...
>>  only those people who use UNIXes are affected by 'unixism'
>
>Sorry, I don't see how an activity can be affected by something that has 
>nothing to do with that activity.
>
>Are you suggesting that Unix users don't have to deal with unixism? If 
>that were so, why would Xah Lee have such a bee in his bonnet about it? [2]
>
>Xah Lee says "unix should mean unixism, the way things are done in unix 
>platform" [1]
>
>Xah Lee also says "the unix shells ... is one giant unpurgeable shit 
>pile arose from ad hoc hacks of unixism." [2]
>
>It seems legit to wonder why he chooses to place his web-pages amongst 
>shit piles.

ISTM that the criticism was better expressed by PDP-10ers in the "Unix
Hater's Handbook", available online. For further thoughts, read plan 9
documents, to see where the original implementors agree. 

OTOH there's the other OSes that crash, crawl, or just get in the way
of getting work done because you've got to do it their way or else! 
Feel free to use them instead, and be prepared to pay thru the nose. 

If you don't like some standard Unix OS feature, there's probably
another one out there based on every system which ever existed to
download, or you could write your own. 
If you don't like a standard Unix shell, there's probably another one
out there based on every system which ever existed to download, or you
could write your own. 
If you don't like a standard Unix editor, there's probably another one
out there based on every system which ever existed to download, or you
could write your own. 
etc...

-- 
Thanks. Take care, Brian Inglis 	Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Brian.Inglis at CSi.com 	(Brian[dot]Inglis{at}SystematicSW[dot]ab[dot]ca)
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