Subject: Re: Unclear thought is the problem, not the solution From: Erik Naggum <erik@naggum.no> Date: 1996/09/11 Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp,comp.lang.scheme Message-ID: <3051399133132166@arcana.naggum.no> "Not only is unix dead, it's starting to smell bad" -- Rob Pike. [Bryan O'Sullivan] | Pike is hardly one to talk, if projects like sam and 8 1/2 are | indicators of where his tastes lie. considering that the same institution and largely the same people created Unix and failed monumentally to appreciate scalability back in the 70's, we can safely draw the conclusion that they are attracted to cute little immature things, but begin to hate them as soon as they grow up and start to attract other guys, as well. the reason Unix is starting to smell bad is that this once cute little immature system still isn't potty-trained at age 25, but requires every sysadm and every programmer to parttime as babysitter for this cretin that now weighs 200 pounds and still makes a mess. and what's their solution? create another cute little immature thing that shows every sign of being just as bad at scalability and adaptability once it gets out of the maternity ward. when will we realize that all systems are going to weigh 200 pounds when they grow old enough to be useful and that we might as well optimize for their behavior at that size instead of reluctantly admitting that things grow. well nutured, an operating system can grow to an ace student with excellent health and 200 pounds of muscles, instead of beer-drinking slob with 200 pounds of fat. #\Erik -- those who do not know Lisp are doomed to reimplement it