The UNIX-HATERS Handbook

This book maintains that the UNIX computer operating system is fatally flawed because it never outgrew its origins as a necessity for playing Space Travel on a PDP-7 when ATandT "pulled the plug on Multics." In addition, the design of UNIX is infected with the "MIT approach" that "worse is better." For example, it is better to be simple than correct. These assertions are supported by detailed chapters covering the UNIX user interface, documentation, e-mail, terminal support (especially the "disaster" X-Windows), programming, and file systems. Much support for these arguments comes from reprinted selections from the fellowship of UNIX-haters on Usenet. The book is infused with humor, but makes many telling and serious points. What it fails to account for are the many thousands of UNIX sites running complex business applications on a daily basis without encountering the problems detailed here. The book leaves the reader with no sense of the alternatives; UNIX compared to what? Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR