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Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

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Re: Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

#4

I've played with Plan9 several times, but never used it seriously. The aesthetics that puts me off. Would have been great if they had taken guidance from BeOS / Haiku-OS for the look and feel. Heck, even Windows 95 would have been an improvement.

That would have been difficult since Plan 9 predates each of those other systems. Also Plan 9 took place in Bell Labs as a research project, was based on their own UI research, and was not intended to be a commercially familiar UI. There are interesting ideas in the write ups about the UI that could be applied in nearly any UI today.

Re: Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

#5

I've played with Plan9 several times, but never used it seriously. The aesthetics that puts me off. Would have been great if they had taken guidance from BeOS / Haiku-OS for the look and feel. Heck, even Windows 95 would have been an improvement.

Not an expert in OS development whatsoever but I do know that it's not intended for common usage, so how its UI looks is not something devs would take much care of.

Though I do know that it puts some strong emphasis on mouse usage, something that for someone that grew to use the keyboard a lot like me (ironically, as a graphic designer) seems to be really awkward, to say the less. Its strengths seem to be its overlaying concepts and that it intended to be "the next gen Unix" - alas it won't take over for a myriad of reasons, and some would argue Unix-es have already borrowed some of its concepts for themselves.

Re: Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

#6
> The Plan 9 implementations tend to not be as feature rich as the proper upstream variants.

This is IMO the biggest drawback. Why wouldn't any user want the software to be feature rich? In fact, looking at Plan 9, I often feel that the provided software is just a MVP.

Re: Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

#7
post #6

> The Plan 9 implementations tend to not be as feature rich as the proper upstream variants. This is IMO the biggest drawback. Why wouldn't any user want the software to be feature rich? In fact, looking at Plan 9, I often feel that the provided software is just a MVP.

For the same reason people prefer languages like Python over Perl. Simplicity improves usability and understandability.

It's pleasant to use a minimalist, viable product.

9front is not the only OS I use, but it is one of my daily drivers.

Re: Plan 9 is a uniquely complete operating system

#8
post #7
post #6

> The Plan 9 implementations tend to not be as feature rich as the proper upstream variants. This is IMO the biggest drawback. Why wouldn't any user want the software to be feature rich? In fact, looking at Plan 9, I often feel that the provided software is just a MVP.

For the same reason people prefer languages like Python over Perl. Simplicity improves usability and understandability. It's pleasant to use a minimalist, viable product. 9front is not the only OS I use, but it is one of my daily drivers.

Hey Ori :) I particularly enjoyed your video talk "not dead just resting" - thanks for everything you do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m3GuoaxRNM

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