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  1. Xref: sparky comp.windows.misc:1184 comp.human-factors:1841
  2. Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.human-factors
  3. Path: sparky!uunet!psinntp!ficc!peter
  4. From: peter@ferranti.com (Peter da Silva)
  5. Subject: Re: GUIs Considered Harmful
  6. Message-ID: <id.J0KS.KF1@ferranti.com>
  7. Organization: Xenix Support, FICC
  8. References: <1992Aug20.181915.2357@twg.com>
  9. Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 16:16:02 GMT
  10. Lines: 54
  11.  
  12. In article <1992Aug20.181915.2357@twg.com> "David Herron" <david@twg.com> writes:
  13. > A lot of your comments are good.  Not all the world, after all, is a GUI 
  14. > screen.  Some of is VT100's (or worse) and other parts are shell scripts
  15. > running at 3AM from cron.
  16.  
  17. Right. Some programs need a GUI. Some programs can benefit from a GUI, but
  18. don't need one. Some programs are actually hurt by putting a GUI into them.
  19.  
  20. For members of the first class, consider any program that involves editing
  21. graphical objects: font/bitmap/icon editors, paint programs, CAD programs,
  22. audio programs, and so on.
  23.  
  24. For members of the second class, consider browsers (*rn, more/less/...,
  25. FileManager), editors, infrequently used software, ...
  26.  
  27. For members of the third class, look at any program that's inherently
  28. batch: compilers, long-running data manipulation tools, and so on. Some
  29. of the members of this class intersect with members of the second depending
  30. on the quality of ths GUI and whether it's integrated with the package (for
  31. example, consider a tool that in a GUI environment is basically a property
  32. sheet. You can pull it down, or just edit a config file or command line).
  33.  
  34. What I'd like to see is a really graphic shell. UNIX shell commands would
  35. be icons you link together, with an attached property sheet you can use
  36. to build the command line:
  37.  
  38.  
  39.     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  40.     | X | Pipeworks                                                 |
  41.     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  42.     | (File) (Edit) (View) (Search) (Create)                        |
  43.     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  44.     |                                                               |
  45.     |   +-------+        +------+        +------+        +-------+  |
  46.     |   | /etc >|--------| GREP |--------| SORT |--------| /tmp >|  |
  47.     |   +-------+        +------+--------------------------+ ----+  |
  48.     |                    | Pattern       [^root:.*       ] |        |
  49.     |                    | Ignore case   [X] -i            |        |
  50.     |                    | Invert match  [ ] -v            |        |
  51.     |                    | Count only    [ ] -c            |        |
  52.     |                    | Names only    [ ] -l            |        |
  53.     |                    |                                 |        |
  54.     |                    | [grep -i '^root:.*'           ] |        |
  55.     |                    +---------------------------------+        |
  56.     |                                                               |
  57.     |                                                               |
  58.     |                                                               |
  59.     | [ </etc/passwd grep -i '^root:.*' | sort -d >/tmp/root      ] |
  60.     +---------------------------------------------------------------+
  61. -- 
  62. Peter da Silva                                               `-_-'
  63. $ EDIT/TECO LOVE                                              'U` 
  64. %TECO-W-OLDJOKE Not war?                        Have you hugged your wolf today?
  65. Ferranti Intl. Ctls. Corp.      Sugar Land, TX  77487-5012       +1 713 274 5180
  66.