I seldom disagree with Bruce, but this one is of interest to me: > There's nothing intrinsically wrong with Unix; it's a reasonably > well-designed multitasking operating system. My contention is that UNIX was never actually "designed", much less designed well. If I read the history of it's evolution (which may be well distorted with time) UNIX was not originally developed to be multi-tasking or multi-user. Both features were afterthoughts. Indeed, UNIX was originally hacked to support a game of sorts from GE's Multics. So for a single purpose, single user OS, it could be classified as a "reasonably well-designed" OS. The "design by the seat of your pants" hit full stride when UNIX began to invade academia and every freshman programmer added a new feature or utility (and later a file system). The undisciplined coding was compounded by the lack of support only available from a part time, transient and volunteer development squad/class. By bad natured bitching aside, I like UNIX. If we take the definition of quaint to be "pleasingly odd", then that is why I like UNIX, for in the world of OSs, it is quaint . . . but not well-designed. ======================================================================= Guy Smith Voice: 804-527-4000 ext 6664 Circuit City Stores, Inc. FAX: 804-527-4116 9950 Mayland Drive E-Mail: attmail.com!bronco!guys Richmond, VA 23233-1464 Private E-Mail: [log in to unmask] The thoughts expressed herein are mine and do not reflect those of my employer, or anyone with common sense.