Unix bugs vs. VMS bugs

[Mark Crispin]

     This sort of issue comes up whenever people get the
impression that there are any absolutes.  Just about any system
can benefit from having an on-site wizard, even if the operating
system is manufacturer-supported (e.g. VMS, TOPS-20, VM/370).
While the cost of ownership of a wizard is non-trivial (yes, they
do "spend lots of time on the phone, going to conferences,
reading nets like this, and hacking"), consider the alternative.
You are either stuck with the product as it comes from the
manufacturer or you find yourself forced to rent a wizard -- that
is, you must hire a consultant.

     Now I have nothing against consultants!  I'm a full-time
rental wizard (tr: independent consultant) and I find the
business quite lucrative.  I hope that attitudes such as Jon
Forrest's continue -- customers with that attitude comprise most
of my business.

     The "people problem" with Unix is not the wizards, but
rather the groupies.  I define a "Unix groupie" as any individual
who (1) considers Unix in its present state to be software
perfection, (2) refuses to believe that other operating systems
have features too, (3) makes noises of disgust whenever some
other operating system is mentioned, (4) makes noises of disgust
whenever some programming language other than C is mentioned.
It's reminiscent of the APL\360 groupies of 15 years ago.

     Unix does have a software maturity problem.  I for one would
love to see a standard Unix.  It unnerves me when I must relearn
"how to do X" just because I'm using somebody else's Unix system.
Many of these incompatibilities seem to be completely gratuitous.
Also, Unix lacks some very basic facilities which are only now
starting to appear: process-to-process memory mapping (for both
read and write), process-to-file memory mapping, file interlocks,
long file names, user-friendly command interfaces (sh, csh, ksh,
etc. are many things, but user-friendly is not one of them), etc.
I wish that these things would all appear in all places in the
same way, but I fear that in just about every minor version of
Unix it'll be completely different.

     Unix is clearly not for the fainthearted.  If you really
don't care all that much what the operating system does for you
-- e.g. all you want is a FORTRAN engine -- then Unix may not be
your answer.  You can use a "throwaway" operating system such as
VMS.  If you actually start USING some special feature of your
operating system, you may start caring about what happens when
you have to change computer vendors.

     Finally, I cannot let the comment about "Unix being better
than any other operating system (except VMS)" go by unchallenged.
I can't see how anybody can possibly make such grand claims about
VMS.  It's the manufacturer-supplied operating system for a
superminicomputer which is now (with the 8600) selling at (high)
mainframe prices.  It's an upgrade from an earlier minicomputer
operating system from that manufacturer, but still some years(!)
away from achieving the level of functionality of other operating
systems from that manufacturer's other product lines!  It's still
a dinosaur.

Mark Crispin
MRC at SU-SCORE.ARPA
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