deep-six os/2

[Kevin W. Thompson]

In article <12 at tcistl2.UUCP> sccm at tcistl2.UUCP (Mason) writes:
>The details of my situation are not very important, but I am faced with
>having to make a presentation tomorrow morning (89/11/29 0900 hrs CST) as
>to why OS/2 is inferior to xenix.  This is a surprise heaped upon me at
>1600 hours this afternoon.
>
> ...
>
>Any comments appreciated.  E-mail please !
>
>Regards,
>
>Stephen Comfort-Mason

Deep six OS/2?  Give a presentation on why OS/2 is inferior to XENIX?

I can't let this go by without commenting, even if it is too late
for your talk.  The "superiority" of an operating system depends
solely on the degree to which it accomplishes the objectives
which are important to the buyer or user.  You cannot give an 
honest presentation about why one OS is "superior" to another
unless you state the goals which must be achieved.  So you
cannot state that OS/2 is inferior to UNIX/XENIX (or vice versa)
independent of context.  You personally may not like OS/2, but
that is a different question, and likely has nothing to do with
what your audience is concerned with.

Statements about superiority of operating systems which do not
relate to a context are intellectually dishonest.  I can guarantee
that OS/2 is superior to UNIX/XENIX for certain tasks, just as I
can guarantee the opposite for others.


===============================================================
Kevin W. Thompson
thompson at galileo.arc.nasa.gov