Re: CNN / InfoWorld article on Linux vs. NT (with some AS/400referen ces)

[email@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (James W Kilgore)]

Hi all,

WARNING(*GIVEN) ;)

I've been dipping my toes in the Linux waters for a short time and
having been spoiled by OS/400 I've become a bit frustrated by it.

IMO, Linux discussion on this list is a stretch, but there was a post a
while back about rumors of Linux on the FSIOP/IPCS/name de jour so it
may be AS/400 relevant.  More to the point, the program names!

Would anyone else be interested in submitting to the Linux community
something akin to an OS/400 like command processor with an actual
"scheme" to command names and interfaces?

Like OS/400, Linux has a gazillion functions but just try to figure out
what it's called! :(

Imagine if you will that all that was available on the S/38/400 from day
one was cryptic MI calls.  How far would this platform have gotten?

Having a consistent verb/subject/topic command syntax makes guessing a
fruitful exercise.  I know there has been plenty of effort in the GUI,
but what about something to make it easier for developers? SuSe will
give you 900 programs along with the kernel, just try to find the one
needed for a particular purpose. =8-0

(not to mention the different "flavors" of the same function)

I'm not talking about changing anything within Linux, just an organized
way of -using- the functions available within Linux.

I really like the idea behind Linux, but as a software house we would
like to write to a "standard" callable and if the underlying program is
replaced, so be it.  We can't afford to retrofit thousands of programs
for a new iteration of the same function.

We put together a box to install Linux.  First the Caldera
distribution.  That worked.  Same box, Red Hat, blank screen.  From a
business point of view, and spoiled IBM user, trial and error is -not- a
development "plan".

If not a unified command type syntax, a choosable API interface by
format name.  Anything but guessing what someone thought would make a
"cute" name.

Could I have some brie with my whine?

James W. Kilgore
email@James-W-Kilgore.com

P.S. I'm bent on bitching my way to a "supportable" Linux configuration.
;-}
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