From: John Havard
To: ask_tim@oreilly.com
Subject: Making Unix for the Masses
One of the reasons the Microsoft platform is so great is because of the following:
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1) The GUI has great appeal
2) Loads of games for people to waste their time on.
3) The programmers cater for the masses
4) Configuring kernels is hard for people to do.
I would like to see if there is a way to make Unix and all its variants for the masses. If we make it easier for the newest games to be there, then game developers will be there. If we make a better GUI, then it will be easier for the masses to use. If we can get programmers to stop using the attitude of "If they aren't smart enough to do it how I want it, then they should even use a computer", then we might see some programs easier to use for the masses. If we see more kernels use loadable modules, then we wouldn't have to worry about people having to learn how to do a kernel config file and learn all of the steps to build it, and therefore they would be more willing to use unix.
Of course, you would still have to have the good old command line. It wouldn't be Unix without that, now would it?
Maybe you guys could write a book on good user interfaces or something. Or how about get some programmers/writers to do that and write about it.
Just my idea,
John Havard
John,
I don't think it's as simple as you say. The programming interfaces for Windows are more complex than those for UNIX in many cases, and a moving target to boot.
I don't think that the dominance of Microsoft operating systems actually has anything at all to do with the technical characteristics of the OS, but rather with the business practices of Microsoft.
Bill Gates and the Microsoft team are without a doubt the business geniuses of the latter part of the 20th century. They have exploited the key inflection points of change in the industry with aggressive, brilliant business deals and a strategy that has confounded company after company with products that were better for developers, better for users, and easier to administer.
This is much like the dominance of the automobile. Someone makes a business breakthrough and then changes the nature of the argument, so that they can always win. I'm always amazed, for instance, when a bond comes up to fund light rail from our area down to San Francisco, and the costs are in the hundreds of millions of dollars... and everyone throws up their hands in despair, saying rail will never be economical.
Meanwhile, California spends $50 billion on its roads. Roads aren't an expense any more. They are just what`s taken for granted.
That comes from some key strategic moves made by auto manufacturers and oil companies many years ago.
Having a better product is only one ingredient of business success.
--Tim
