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


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