Unix, Linux, NeXTStep, etc.

[Timothy C. May]

(Thread name changes, as "Clinton freezes assets...." didn't seem too
relevant. Is it just me, or are people no longer even bothering to
change thread names to reflect contents?)

joshua geller wrote:

> Kevin Marcus writes:
> 
> >   Unfortunately, however, there are a lot of things that a lot of people 
> >   can't do in a unix system.  Unix is probably the most widely used 
> >   unfriendly cryptic, and complicated operating system today.  With the 
> >   upcoming of Linux, this will probably change somewhat in the future, but 
> >   until I can teach my secretary how she can use latex to type and print her 
> >   letters, we are going to be stuck with getting us whatever the bastards 
> >   at MicroSoft think we want.
> 
> well there is (or was) NeXTStep. always thought it was a pity that
> didn't take off.

I was about to say the same thing! Not to push NeXTStep per se, as it
is apparently doomed for a variety of reasons,  but to say that
popular applications can be--and have been--ported to Unix. Many of
you presumably have first-hand knowledge of this, with apps like
Mathematica, FrameMaker, WordPerfect, etc. on Unix boxes as well as
PCs and Macs.

This is separate, I think, from the issue of teaching secretaries
LaTex...that sounds truly evil. (8-))

--Tim May


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