What's Wrong with Unix?

aaron240 asks: "When Google published the GLAT (Google Labs Aptitude Test) the Unix question was intriguing. They asked an open-ended question about what is wrong with Unix and how you might fix it. Rob Pike touched on the question in his Slashdot interview from October. What insightful answers did the rest of Slashdot give when they applied to work at Google? To repeat the actual question, 'What's broken with Unix? How would you fix it?'"

Comments

Screen is too black...

[raile]

I'm used to reading my system text as a white font on a blue background.

Re:Screen is too black...

[deathazre]

STOP ERROR 0x0000073A: SLASHDOT_MODS_DO_NOT_UNDERSTAND_SUBTLE_HUMOR //watch me get modded down for this...

my answer

[ubiquitin]

Q. What's wrong with Unix?
A. All those slashes and dots.

Q. How you would fix it?
A. um, slashdot

Of course!

KSpaceDuel

[jkauzlar]

Certainly this component of Linux needs rewritten. Firstly, it is far too difficult to maneuver your ship with the gravity the way it is, and secondly, the bullets go too slowly. Thirdly, it isn't intuitive what the different colored blobs are; its easy to forget what is energy and what is a mine, or something like that.

I would suggest to the KSpaceDuel team that they meet with the KAsteroids team to discuss usability issues. There should also be a cap on how fast you can go, since it is possible to speed up so fast that your spacecraft appears to be moving very slowly (sort of like a tire in motion).

There's only one thing wrong with UNIX:

[gellenburg]

Not everyone's running it.

Laugh.

It's a joke.

Re:Program Installation Locations

[Phleg]

Somebody find this man a package manager.

Simple...

[andreMA]

PROBLEM: SCO exists
SOLUTION: 2 MT airburst over Lindon, UT

Oh, with UNIX, not for UNIX. Never mind.

As you were.

Re:OS X

[hey]

Lots of people agree that OS X is the best Unix going. So now us Linux fans has something to copy. Lets get started.

Re:needs some VMS stuff

[tntguy]

I can't count the number of times I've dragged a file to the "Overwrite With Nuls" icon on the desktop. This wouldn't help at all!

Re:Here's a start:

[FuzzyBad-Mofo]

That reminds me of my favorite Windows error message:
Windows - Application Error
The instruction at "0x00403759" referenced memory at "0x202c7971". The memory could not be "read".
Click OK to terminate the program.

The quotes around "read" are what really cracks me up. What can I say, I'm easily amused. Bring on the guru meditation, baby! ;)

Re:Program Installation Locations

[cosmol]

How is this not better than the current Unix way of doing things?
umm, you have to use a mouse?

Re:That's not just unix. :P

[tulare]

Heh. For a really good time, try going into #debian on freenode and asking any question, no matter how esoteric. You're bound to get about three or four RTFMs, and one guy who will pmsg you with more helpful information. Note: I just switched to deb after several years of RPM-based distros, and am not a complete n00b here, so the attitude I encountered was offputting to say the least. Imagine sending your grandma in there for help - she'd probably smack you with her purse the next time she saw you!

Re:You guys should maybe step back...

[Bush Pig]

I've worked with a couple of MCSEs who weren't morons. Of course, they were Solaris sysadmins who'd got the MCSE as a requirement for some job or other they'd been involved in, but still ...

One of them said he'd had _enormous_ trouble with the MCSE tests, until he figured out the "correct" answers to the questions wasn't the right answer that'd actually solve the problem, it was the answer you'd been taught on the MCSE course.