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Date:      Mon, 15 Jun 1998 18:18:15 -0700
From:      Tim Gerchmez <fewtch@serv.net>
To:        allen campbell <allenc@verinet.com>
Cc:        newbies@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: A first encounter with 'vi'
Message-ID:  <3.0.5.32.19980615181815.007f16b0@mx.serv.net>
In-Reply-To: <199806150519.XAA06109@struct.>
References:  <3.0.5.32.19980614145301.007ed5c0@mx.serv.net>

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Power means little when it is not accompanied by at least a little ease of
use/attention to user interface design (Bill Gates figured this out, and
he's the richest man on the planet at this point).  I could design an
automobile consisting of a steel-reinforced cardboard box, a steering
mechanism designed to be steered by the small toes on each foot, and steel
tires, with a 1000 horsepower engine and 500 gallon gas tank hanging on the
side, *VERY* powerful, you think anyone wants to drive it?

It bothers me a little that longtime *nix people are so dedicated to the
traditions of their OS that they are very slow to make changes.  For
example, why is there not something as easy to use as the Win95 editor
"EDIT" (open a DOS box and type edit, or go to DOS 7.0 and type edit).
Fully text-mode graphical, uses standardized keys and mouse commands the
rest of the world uses, can edit multiple files, files not limited in size,
etc.  This is the best text-mode editor I've ever used, and it's provided
by Microsoft for use on DOS.  Don't tell me *nix has anything its equal in
text mode - THERE IS NOTHING AS EASY TO USE AND AS POWERFUL IN TEXT MODE.
Come on... I *know* BSD programmers can do better.  Write a *CLONE* of the
EDIT utility included with Win95 for text-mode use.  An *EXACT* clone.
Consider this a challenge!  I don't think you can do it, MS has better
programmers... (trying to piss you off enough to do it!)...

At 11:19 PM 6/14/98 -0600, allen campbell wrote:

>I would encourage you to approach vi
>deliberately and learn the basics.  Vi is a very powerful editor
>and it is ubiquitous.  Well worth learning by anyone involved with
>Unix.
>
>--
>  Allen Campbell
>  allenc@verinet.com
>
>

--
My web site starts at http://www.serv.net/~fewtch/index.html -
lots of goodies for everyone, have a look if you have the time.


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