why learn UNIX

[Garry Wiegand]

Oh here we go to the wars again! A lot of what Barry says is perfectly
true, but allow me to edit a few:

In a recent article bzs at bu-cs.BU.EDU (Barry Shein) wrote:
>From: alan at herman.UUCP (Alan Kiecker)
>>One of our directors is on an advisory board to one of our state colleges.
>>Currently the college is using a VAX VMS system, but is considering moving
>>over to UNIX...
>...
>
>	1. Business perspective - Unix offers the college "vendor
>	independence", particularly after the first change. Whereas
>	VMS is sold only by DEC (and at a hefty cost for both hardware
>	and software)... 

Unix licenses and source are derived only from AT&T and there is no "vendor
independence" for the software (though there's rumors of new Unixae...)
If you mean "it runs on more CPUs", this is assuredly true.

"Hefty cost": Last time I had need to inquire, commercial Unix for large 
machines was priced comparably to commercial VMS. *Both* big $$$$. And I 
thought AT&T was going to stop giving free Unixes to universities. Can 
anybody comment?

>	2. Industry/University Relations - 

true

>	3. Job Perspectives - I invite you to pick up the Sunday
>	employment section of a major newspaper (try the Boston Globe)
>	and make a hash mark every time you see a UNIX position and
>	others. It should be revealing...

possibly true - I don't get the Globe. (I *thought* the most popular
was something called "OS/MVS" :-)

>
>	4. Academic considerations - Unix has been highly praised
>	for its consistent goals based upon innovative principles
>	of software engineering and design. VMS is expensive.

The Unix kernel is excellently designed. FLAME ON  The Unix utilities,
from a high-quality software-engineering point of view, are trash. Which
what the students have to contend with. FLAME OFF   You're repeating
yourself about "expensive".

>	5. Commonality - Over 90% of all CS departments in the US
>	use UNIX...[describes Unix-related books]... Try to find VMS books...

CS - true (Unix was free for years - excellent marketing move) 

Books - true. But not very interesting. The Unix utilities that are well-enough
written that someone can actually document them seem to be well-enough written
that they also run fine under VMS when I try them.

>	6. Manuals - The full set of UNIX manuals is readily available
>	and inexpensive (a very complete set should cost around $100,
>	a more than adequate set probably less half that.) ...
>	VMS manual sets are several times more...
>	expensive and not readily available. I've never seen a tutorial
>	or self-help type book on VMS in the popular press...

Not fair. The Unix manuals are cheap because they:

	1) Are cryptic and obscure,
	2) Are not kept up-to-date,
	3) Contain no examples,
	4) Contain no index,
	5) Assume that you're a wizard.

DEC publishes a number of "tutorial and self-help" books -- there aren't
the popular press books partly because the original manufacturer has acted
responsibly and published them itself. After all, would you prefer to buy 
a "Guide to programming in Fortran on XXX" or "Guide to Text Editing" from 
the manufacturer or from some unknown hacker author?

>	7. Personal Development - UNIX is available for the home and
>	promises to be more so in the very near future, this will
>	almost certainly never be true for VMS....

true (although personal uVAXes are getting closer and closer...)

>	8. Faculty hiring - If 90% of all CS depts use UNIX there must
>	be a few people out there available to teach it.

true. But the professors I've encountered avoid at all costs discussing
practicalities like "talking gracefully to the system", so their presumed
expertise won't help the students.

>	9. Future - I'll make the brash prediction here that VMS has
>	around 2-5 years (max) left. I don't consider it very responsible
>	to teach students a system who's days are numbered. The VAX line
>	itself (which VMS is hopelessly tied to) seems to be nearing the
>	end of its useful life span.

yes, there are indeed starting to be rumors around of what's next - I'm
looking forward to it eagerly!  Unix is now 15 years old, VMS is now 8
years old, it's most certainly time to get on to the next generation!

>	10. UNIX has better games :-)

true

I've tried to limit myself to saying which of your reasons for changing
I don't consider valid; I haven't gone into all the obvious reasons for 
*not* changing (the original poster didn't ask for them.)

But I will mention one: well-thought-out and graceful user interfaces are
very important to me, and I suspect as time goes on they will become more
important to the rest of the world too. It *pains* me for students to be 
subjected to Unix first, with commands and error messages that read like 
modem noise, and for them thus never to be aware that the user interface is 
something anybody considers worth worrying about. 

Enough said.

>		-Barry Shein, Boston University

garry wiegand   (garry%cadif-oak at cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu)

PS - I'm looking forward to our new Cornell/Dec pricing agreement -
     they're bundling in bunches of interesting compilers and layered
     products for a cheap flat price.