From: imb{at}walkabout.asstdc.com.au (michael butler)
Reply-To: imb{at}asstdc.com.au

LE> So Internet stuff *is* organized by area. And when you use the
LE> "simple" port to DOS, you wind up with *multiple* copies of the
LE> message.  A fancier port is a real pain, because you have
LE> to work around a deficiency in the file system.

: a deficiency that bill gates =put= in there...

TRUE .. anyone who had access to the source-code during the transition
between MS-DOS 1 and 2 (as I did) would've seen two modules "borrowed" from
the Xenix(*) operating system to yield hierarchical directories.

Links from multiple directory entries to one inode (representing a single
instance of a file) were put there for a good reason .. 

The stupidity of using "\" for path element separators and
"/" for the
"switch" character astounded me then and still does :-( I much preferred
Xenix to DOS in those days ..

(*) Xenix was (originally) a port of unix version 7 developed initially by
Microsoft with machines such as the model 16 (Z80 + 68000) in mind. If
memory serves, it wasn't actually MS who did the original port but HCR in
Canada (Toronto ?) rings a bell .. however, my memory of those days is a
little rusty .. SCO was formed sometime later. I believe, MS may still have
a financial interest in SCO ..

	michael

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