dosread.c again

[Charles Marslett]

In article <1989Oct20.170447.19573 at utzoo.uucp>, henry at utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) writes:
> In article <2501 at optilink.UUCP> cramer at optilink.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) writes:
> >I'm sure that if DOS weren't used by COMMON PEOPLE, the DOS-haters
> >would make appropriate criticisms of the many very real deficiencies
> >of DOS, and leave it at that.  But as long as someone can learn to
> >use a computer without devoting years of their life to it, the
> >DOS-haters will remain filled with irrational hatred.
> 
> The common people make essentially no use of DOS; they just use it to load
> programs that take over the whole machine and largely ignore DOS.  Learning
> to use DOS itself -- especially the fine points of the file system, which
> is what this discussion was about -- *does* take lots of work.  And it's not
> worth the trouble for most people, which is exactly what Andy was getting at.

I might point out that perhaps 1% of all users of the Unix operating system
and its various imitators probably have any interest at all in the fine points
of that file system.  And I believe it was Dennis Ritchie himself who
noted that Unix was a nice file system with a rudimentary OS attached (pardon
the paraphrase).  And neither point keeps people from using it.

So the fact that DOS is a nice file system (and I disagree with anyone who
says otherwise -- it is well suited for the tasks most of its users put it
to) with virtually no OS attached is not to say it is inadequate.

> Hatred of DOS is entirely rational, and has nothing to do with who else
> uses it.  There are ample reasons to despise that feeble excuse for an
> operating system.
> -- 
> A bit of tolerance is worth a  |     Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
> megabyte of flaming.           | uunet!attcan!utzoo!henry henry at zoo.toronto.edu

Henry, please read your little note here.  Some might take your comments to be
a bit of fire from the north!

Charles Marslett
(author of two DOSes somewhat more primative than Microsoft's)
chasm at attctc.dallas.tx.us