Favorite operating systems query (UNIX vs VMS flaming!!!)

[Garry Wiegand]

In a recent article levy at ttrdc.UUCP (Daniel R. Levy) wrote:
>Hardly pointing out the specific problem!  Better something like this (under
>System V):
>
>$ who -bogus
>who:  illegal option -- o
>Usage:	who [-rbtpludAasHTq] [am i] [utmp_like_file]
>
>r	run level
>b	boot time
>t	time changes
>...

My goodness! I never *ever* saw a Unix program actually use English words and 
list out the options! What won't they think of next!!!! (As for me, I've always 
rather enjoyed those clever little "Usage: oink  -azmnblooglefungaaa" lines.)

More seriously, there pros and cons to this approach - if I just fumble-fingered,
and the program has a gazillion options, I DON'T want to wait while they all
scroll by.

PS - On my system (4.3 BSD), typing "who -bogus" yields:

	who: cannot open utmp

This excellent message is *much more* in the tradition of the Unix.
-- 
garry wiegand   (garry%cadif-oak at cu-arpa.cs.cornell.edu)