X-rated Bob wrote:
Warren wrote:
PS: Unix was always originally designed as an expert's system anyhow.
Don't think so. When Unix was devised (at AT&T) there was no real fragmenting of the OS market. In fact there hardly was an OS market.
Even when Gates did the deal to provide DOS to IBM there was no anticipation that there would be a large, non-technical customer bas for an OS. It was Gates who saw that possibility when everybody else missed it. IBM only expected to make a few hundred PCs. CP/M was getting popular round about that time, but it was still essentially a fun toy for nerdy types who liked playing with computers that they'd built themselves.
Nothing you say is wrong, but I think we're making the same point.
Unix was an OS designed for computer engineers and scientists, not for "regular" people. The very idea that regular people might have a computer in their home (whatever for??) had not even entered into the thinking of the designers.
So while there wasn't yet the market split, it doesn't change the fact that it was never designed for the audience that the later MS products were.
PS: I am a big fan of good interfaces. Life changing book I read as part of my studies was called "The Design of Everyday" things, where the author just rants on about crap design in everything from doors to kettles to light switches to software. ?
