job control

[VLD/VMB]

I certainly agree that UNIX, at the level you are talking about
(direct use of the shell, etc.), is not designed for casual use.
It was designed specifically for software development, and
anyone peddling this interface for naive, untrained users is
guilty of a (minor) crime.  Unfortunately, the original precise,
compact documentation for the computer professional has now
been spread across nearly 10 times as many manuals and has been
buried under the "computer will not listen to you until you
press RETURN" style of naive-user instruction that you referred
to.  I think AT&T has mixed the two rather different categories
of users into the same basket, to the detriment of both.

On the other hand, I'm sure that if I attempted to use TOPS-20
with UNIX experience as a guide and didn't read the explanatory
material first, I would get just as annoyed with it as you seem
to be with UNIX.  (In fact, in my few brief encounters with
TOPS-20, it was pretty puzzling.  If I had to use it for serious
work, though, you can bet I'd read the documentation first.)

There's room for both TOPS-20 and UNIX, but I wouldn't
advertise either as having an ideal general-user interface.