I have decided to start a Unix weblog.
There are several reasons for this.
- I have been using Unix since the mid-1980's. I am very familiar with it, and like it a lot.
- Unix has been around for almost half a century: far longer than Macs, Windows, and Linux.
- FreeBSD is the cornerstone of the Macintosh Mac OS X operating system - and FreeBSD is one of many varieties of Unix.
- Unix architecture and design is much admired today, having been crafted by brilliant computer scientists for generations.
- Unix/Linux/OSX sysems share a common API and command language, so there is a great deal of portability possible for programs and shell scripts written for these operating systems. These days, reuse is important; both design and implementation reuse are helpful.
- Macs are becoming incredibly popular today, buoyed by iPhone+iPod - and the descent of Windows.
Mac OS X has been more successful than Linux and the Windows operating system - in different ways.
The Mac seems to have a slightly nicer user interface, on average, than Linux and Unix. Linux GUIs can be breathtaking. However, there is a lack of commonality - by intent, which in some ways is frustrating. This has probably cost Unix a lot of non-technical user sales, though it has no doubt gained some technical user sales as well.
Windows has sold more computers, though these days that rate is dropping. Windows is losing market share, Macs are gaining it. I think, indirectly, Unix is responsible for this. Lots of Windows problems are disasters that occur using mundane things like the Web, the Internet, removable storage media/devices, etc. Drivers and architecture are they keys to why this is happening.
Unix has a clean architecture, and Apple's OS and web application lead developers come from Unix/Linux backgrounds. They have been exposed to better ways of doing things. They
Think Different than average Windows programmers.
So, what I was getting at is these problems that plague Windows, for the most part, do not plague Unix because there is no corresponding thing to attack on the Mac. ActiveX has no Unix, Linux, or Mac OS X equivalent. Autorun of removable storage (e.g. USB thumb drives) has no equivalent on these other operating systems either, because it is a stupid feature.
MS Windows relied too much for too long on anti-virus programs to protect its reputation and the data+systems of its users. They are a good short-term mitigation strategy. Nothing more.
MS Windows developers put dangerous feature into the OS, as shown in the examples above, and rely on third-parties to do the work of protecting the system and data. It no longer works. Unix/Linux/OSX developers leave convenient, alluring - but incredibly dangerous - features out.
The beliefs and habits in the minds of the programmers, and the architecture of the the systems they work with every day, is what influences how well they write good software.
I think by promoting Unix, the forerunner of Linux and OSX, better computing techniques are promoted. This ultimately makes life safer and less costly for everybody.
So, I want to trace the history of Unix and its innovations. In that way, I want to highlight good computing practices. Not just historical ones, but ones that are helping millions of people - right now, today.
