Idea: general issues/topical computer discussion.

[Marcus J. Ranum]

	Since I started the thread on Software Obesity, I realized (and
have gotten mail pointing this out) that such topics don't belong in
comp.unix.internals - in fact there really isn't a forum other than
something like the computer religion or flame newsgroups for it. On
the other hand, being a subscriber to USENIX' "_Computing_Systems_",
one of my favorite parts is the "Controversy" section.

	I was wondering if there might be enough interest out there
to warrant either a (moderated) newsgroup or a mailing list devoted
to discussion of trends (good and bad) in computing systems in general, 
or UNIX in specific. There are a lot of fascinating different ideas
on USENET - wildly different ideas, and it might be nice to try
to provide a home for some of them in an environment where it
wouldn't turn into flame-fest, vendor-bashing, or editor wars. I
can recall some really interesting USENIX papers (Rob Pike's "why
workstations don't work" leaps to mind) that I would have really
loved to see amplified, and to hear other people's thoughts
on - sometimes conference papers are rather one-sided. (here Rob's
paper does *not* leap to mind) I think thes a niche in the
net that might be filled by an "electronic trade journal" that
permitted editorials to be submitted, and the summarized or digested
responses. (IE: someone posts an editorial soapboxing, and then a
summary or summaries of "letters to the editor" might be
posted) Who knows, we might get some high-quality papers. Some
sort of suitable editorial policy of fairness would need to be
developed, if the idea takes off.

	Anyhow, this still at the half-baked-idea stage - I don't
even think it's worth calling for discussion at this point. If
you have any opinions or ideas on the matter, send me e-mail, and
if there's enough interest, I'll start a call for discussion or
whatever the net.rules.thumpers like. (IE: I'll RTFM and follow
the guidelines to anarchy)

NOTE - followups are redirected to news.groups, which I don't
read. I'm serious about keeping it to the email let's knock ideas
around at this stage.

mjr.
-- 
	I'd trade all the CASE tools in the world for one real
programmer.     [From the programming notebooks of a heretic, 1990]