why Unix?

[Christopher Wright]

Adam D. Ruppe wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 06, 2009 at 10:29:57PM -0400, Christopher Wright wrote:
>> The Windows terminal emulator sucks. This is not subject to debate.
> 
> What terminal emulator?
> 
> This might be a bit of a nitpick, but Windows doesn't try to emulate a
> terminal (not in the OS anyway; there are hundreds of third party programs
> to do such) and it is better off for it.

Yes, that is a nitpick. By "terminal emulator" I mean the GUI program 
housing the command interpreter.

> Have you ever pressed delete and just got a ~? Pressed home and got a ~[B
> (or whatever the hell it is)? 

The defaults are set up so that you don't get this issue. The exception 
is when you are logging in on a virtual terminal -- you don't have a 
shell yet. Fixing this on the rare occasions that it happened (which 
pretty much only involved using cygwin) was quick and straightforward.

> Tried to use a program with color after
> changing the background color of your window? 

First, very few programs use color. Second, it's rare to change the 
background color of your window. Third, it's always worked perfectly for 
me on the rare occasions in which I have done so.

> Resized a window and had
> your text cut off?

No.

> Go up through your history and get corrupted lines?

No.

> The Unix terminal system is barely usable - NOT something anyone should ever
> try to emulate.
> 
> The Windows console, on the other hand, is a lot better, though still has its
> warts. At least it is predictable though.

Just speaking of the GUI, there's no competition. Windows sucks.