[geeks] Kids today!

[Mike Meredith]

On Sunday 11 May 2003 14:36, Lionel Peterson wrote:
> Mainframe O/Ss, like MVS (or it is now what, z/OS?) had a great
> feature, every time you issue a system call, every other process get
> the chance to execute.

Read the end of page 21 of "The Design of the UNIX Operating System". The Unix 
scheduler(s) may not be perfect but they're way in advance of the "Rodney 
King" approach (I'm not sure I understand what a Rodney King scheduler is 
though). Bear in mind that the scheduler has moved on considerably since 
then.

> that MVS-type O/Ss were desigend to tarack usage for $$, 

"man acct". Unix also has accounting although this frequently isn't turned on. 
Undoubtedly it sucks, but all software sucks.

> *nix, other
> "workgroup" O/Ss seem to have a Rodnet King apprach to sharing ("Can't
> we all just get along.")...

I don't know about other workgroup OSes, but with Unix it's possible, but 
optional to enforce restrictions. Which is probably sensible, as extreme 
restrictions are rarely appropriate.

It turns out that figuring out a policy to share a computer isn't a simple 
problem. In all cases, it's for the system administrator to decide what is 
appropriate and implement it --- ideally to reduce the number of phone calls. 
I haven't done this with anything other than Unix, but I have done it with 
Unix and it certainly is possible.