[ydl-gen] Upgrade rant, was: Re: over-the-wire upgrading of 4.01 to 4.1[OT]

[Derick Centeno]

Before this turns into a full scale conflagration, it might help if we 
all remember that Unix as an operating system is not new.  It is 
really, really old by computing standards.

In fact it is astounding to me that I can get Darwin, Linux and even 
AIX to execute code I was running in high school back in 1970 which 
originally ran on DEC PDPs and was stored on paper tape!  There is the 
very real possibility that Unix may be more reliable than arithmetic 
and sturdier than the pyramids of Egypt or the ancient civilizations of 
South America.  And because Unix has been kicked around, tested, 
modified and so on, it may be able to function under nearly any and all 
conditions without failure.  It just may be as fundamental a tool as 
the stone ax or wheel; unlike them however it is not bound to physical 
shape or limits.

Windows, as an OS is a pretty amazing piece of work; but it has not 
approached yet the reliability or sturdiness of Unix.  It may not be 
able to do so just as a civilization whose experience and mathematics 
predates another by a thousand years or more, could take some time to 
comprehend in terms of what is known currently.

Conventions within Unix, and Linux and now OS X (and other other *IX) 
will share similar functions, expectations and execution parameters.  
The fact of the nature of the matter is that all the varieties of *IX 
base systems are aimed at getting essential work done.  The challenge 
to all engineers is how to get that amount of essential processing done 
within better interfaces regarding how humans naturally communicate 
ideas.  This is a completely different requirement regarding how any of 
the *IX systems were initially designed as essentially responding to 
explicitly typed commands at a console.

The other end of the problem is that human psychologists and 
sociologists can't even figure out optimal structures of how children 
communicate, let alone adults in societies.  So how can engineers begin 
to design a workable human interface?  There is also the gap between 
the appearance of successful communication because a job is executed 
and actual comprehension as to whether the intended purpose of a task 
is actually being met.  If there is a system of processing which could 
be the active core of a future system capable of making that leap; it 
will probably be an extension of a version of one of the *IX systems.

Until then however, we have the inconveniences which come with living 
and being bound in time with technologies which are astounding and 
boring; amazingly flexible and impossibly intransigent ... we each need 
to recall as our emotions ride with us along these perspectives or 
views ... these tools we have — this software in *IX, can only go as 
far as we see or have the insight to push these tools forward, as we 
push ourselves forward along as well.

In this sense, we are very much in the struggles, if not the same one, 
as Sysiphus found himself in.  The difference is that we are struggling 
to overcome our own limits of vision in developing and evolving the 
technologies we have developed to date.  Doing this collectively, is 
truly a challenge; it is not clear that we can be successful.  But it 
will be the utmost failure of humanity if we do not work to overcome 
the most difficult aspect of any technology, our own nature.

On Mar 17, 2006, at 2:28 PM, John C. Welch wrote:

> On 3/17/06 11:12, "Kai Staats" <kstaats at terrasoftsolutions.com> wrote:
>
>> Ever tried backing up your home dir on OSX, rebuilding, and 
>> reinstalling? I
>> have yet to have it work properly. Permissions are messed up, app 
>> preferences
>> are all over the place and usually lost --it's a pain.
>
> How many times have you *had* to? I've yet to have to outside of actual
> damage. Sometimes Linux gets trapped by its own "hard is cool" heritage
>
> -- 
> John C. Welch         Writer/Analyst
> Bynkii.com              Mac and other opinions
> jwelch at bynkii.com
>


===============
Mitakuye Oyasin -- A saying of the Lakota Sioux meaning "We are all 
related".