'386 Unix Wars

[Jeff Liebermann]

In article <2862 at cirrusl.UUCP>, dhesi%cirrusl at oliveb.ATC.olivetti.com (Rahul Dhesi) writes:
> In <95 at comix.UUCP> jeffl at comix.UUCP (Jeff Liebermann) writes:
> 
> >The answer to this problem is in front of your face.  The
> >index should be on-line.  One should be able to type a keyword
> >and some database should belch the document name, current
> >version, and page references.
> 
> Ah, for standard UNIX tools:
>      cd /usr/man
>      egrep 'bunch|of|things|to|look|for' */*
> 
This command is useful only if you know what to look for.
What I'm proposing is something useful to users as well as
experienced programmers.  One starts with a basic concept
(backing up, file manipulations, error analysis, mail,
communications, ad nausium) and yields a book and page number.
System and application updates should include index entries
to their release notes.  Note that I did NOT suggest that it
be used as an entry point into the online man pages.  There
are no online copies of the System Administrators Guide, Users
Guide, Users Tutorial, various release notes, updates, and
the sosco stuff (Ref: SCO Unix 3.2.2).  There may never be.
The online man pages are incomplete.

(Dull red glow before the flame.....)
What is entertaining to me is the resistance that I've generated
over this simple idea.  I've proposed an online page index to
6 local software companies.  4 of these sell databases.  I suggested
that the "demo" program supplied the with these databases be
an index to their documentation.  All 5 ignored or turned down
the idea.  I was recently involved in editing a Unix book.  I
suggested an online index to the book available by a mail-in
card or bbs download.  This one also went nowhere.

(IMHO), I think that the reason it's not being done is that no
other company is doing it.  No one (I've talked to) seems to
want to risk their job on an untried idea or considers it
sufficiently important to supply with their products.
Hypertext and context sensitive help is all over the DOS
and MacOS world, but not in UnixLand.  So I leave it to the
smaller companies to impliment so the industry leaders can
clone in safety.


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