Adecvax.194 net.followup utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!aps Mon Mar 29 14:07:19 1982 UNIX books [I am posting this for Rebecca Thomas and Jean Yates (authors of "A User Guide to the UNIX System"). Armando Stettner] We read John Levine's comments on our book with interest and some disappointment. Unfortunately, his report is more satir- ical than constructive. The lack of constructive suggestions is particularly unfortunate in view of the dearth of beginner-oriented documentation, which we are attemping to remedy. We will always welcome constructive criticism of ways in which to improve this first book, and the three other books on the Unix system which we have under development. What we find disconcerting is Mr. Levine's emphasis on satirical comment rather than giving input that we could use for the ultimate benefit of the end user. "A User Guide to the Unix System" was written to serve the naive, largely non-University audience. First, this book attempts to describe what Unix is, how it evolved and what it is used for today. Second, we assist new users in learning the Unix system with extensive tutorials and command descriptions. Finally, we educate potential users as to the reasonable uses of this system and supply lists of Unix-based products and related resources. We do not project a "grand corporate vision" of Bell Labs in our text, although we certainly did not write the book as a critical analysis of the flaws of the system. As to the accuracy of the historical perspective, we refer Mr. Levine to the lawyers of Western Electric Corp. who along with interviews of Bell Lab's personnel, were used to compose this section. Although it was tempting to include gossip which would make this chapter seem more familiar to insiders' knowledge of how Unix came about, it did seem more politic to stay with the official story. As to the cost of optical disk units, we refer Mr. Levine to the products of Drexler Technology, Hitachi, and Pioneer. Note that the prices are OEM (wholesale) and are for the units them- selves, without cabinetry or peripheral circuitry. Mr. Levine's point on shell scripts is well put, although by choice we deferred detailed description of shell command files to a later book. However, we do concur that a clear description of their utility is in order in this first book. We fail to see what is "silly" about an accurate presen- tation of what constitutes an office automation system in general, followed by some specifics as to how it relates to the Unix system. We do acknowledge the need to smooth the transition from the general discussion of office automation to the Unix- specific topics. This clarification should clear up the confusion surrounding the definition of a Fax machine and the BBN InfoMail issue. As an experienced Unix user, Mr. Levine saw BBN and imme- diately thought--Unix. However, for a beginner, such association is not necessarily automatic. The Unix operating system is never mentioned in this section: rather, general networking is des- cribed, using BBN's Arpanet as an example. We invite Mr. Levine to submit specifics as to what is "garbled" in Chapter 7. We contacted each company mentioned and received either verbal or written confirmation of the text on their companies' products. Finally, Mr. Levine's report implies that we considered ourselves Unix experts when we wrote the User Guide. This was not the case--we are microcomputer users who were extremely frus- trated by the lack of beginner's books on Unix and we decided to do something about it. We wrote the User Guide to answer the questions we had about the Unix system--What is it? Why is it popular? How do we use it? If Mr. Levine has a book planned, perhaps he, as an expert, can address beginners' needs better than us. If, in common with many "experts" on Unix, he considers it beneath him, intellectually unchallenging, etc., then we sug- gest that he change his attitude to one of assistance to those who are performing a very much needed task, rather than wasting our time with unconstructive satire. Jean Yates Rebecca Thomas March 28, 1982 ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.