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Asri-unix.1311 net.works utzoo!decvax!cca!mo@LBL-UNIX@sri-unix Sat Apr 24 08:23:07 1982 what workstations aren't From: mo at LBL-UNIX (Mike O'Dell [system]) Here at LBL I am finishing up serving on an administrative committee called COWPEM (Committee on Word Processing and Electronic Mail). [More humorous versions of the acronym have come to mind.] Anyway, we were supposed to develop a Lab-wide position on the above topics. Since the WP business is such a mess, we looked at Electronic Mail. We looked at many of the systems being hawked by various outfits and ruminated for a while.

The general result was rather interesting. Instead of trying to recommend something (which we think was what was desired) or producing a "Requirements Document", we produced a set of criteria which any mail system must not violate. We found this much easier than thinking of everything we want or might want electronic mail to encompass. The process is also adaptive: the set of criteria will evolve and become more specific as we see and use more and more systems.

Now, how come this is on WorkS and not Info-EM or some such? The point is the process. For dealing with new technologies in general (and Workstations are such), we have found it useful to sketch such a set of anti-social criteria and then explore the resulting space. This is a case where enumerating the compliment set is much easier. As we find other things we want X NOT to do, we add them to the set. Otherwise, we feel we will unintentionally isolate ourselves from new things.

While this position may be of no interest to us computer science people, sometimes getting this new technology in the door rests on our being able to make a case for "what good it does". Plans like the one I just outlined can be useful for that, as well as dealing with an administrator who says "Why can we just get one thing for everyone and then it is all compatible?"

So anybody have any ideas what a workstation isn't? (Besides a z80 and CP/M.) -- ONLY JOKING!!!!!

-Mike

PS - If anyone wants to see our list of non-acceptability criteria for Mail systems, I can submit it to the digest or mail it directly.

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