10 Things I Hate About U(NIX) Revisited: Readers Speak
- You're really a Microsoft shill, aren't you?
- But Microsoft did pay you, right?
- You hate Linux, though?
- And you think we should all use Windows?
- I am surprised you didn't mention UNIX security. What do you think of capability-oriented systems?
- You criticize UNIX and say that Mach has some features it lacks, but isn't Mach a form of UNIX?
- Putting wildcard expansion in the shell isn't a bug, its a feature.
- You advocate message passing microkernels, but aren't they really expensive?
- With what do you propose we replace UNIX?
My recent article entitled "10 Things I Hate About U(NIX)" provoked a number of comments, questions, and insults. I have tried to address some of them here.
1. You’re really a Microsoft shill, aren’t you?
No. I haven’t used a Microsoft operating system for two years with the exception of a small Windows partition I keep around on my ThinkPad for the occasional game. The only Microsoft product I routinely use is Microsoft VirtualPC, and that’s a version that pre-dates the company’s purchase of Connectix with an update that replaced the original branding with Microsoft logs. It is a constant source of amusement to me that the software gives all Windows executables a Microsoft logo, so whenever I receive an email virus I can tell instantly from the Windows icon it acquires.
The operating systems I use on a daily basis are Mac OS X, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and Linux. Of these, OpenBSD is probably my favorite; it has first-rate documentation and a clear and consistent layout. Oh, and decent security, too.