From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: tytso@mit.edu (Theodore Ts'o) Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2017 20:00:29 -0500 Subject: [TUHS] 80 columns ... In-Reply-To: References: <20171108210216.GB15276@mcvoy.com> <20171108212424.GA15911@mcvoy.com> <20171108214036.GB15911@mcvoy.com> Message-ID: <20171109010029.t6puvz5n2oljpbvq@thunk.org> On Wed, Nov 08, 2017 at 04:43:05PM -0500, Dan Cross wrote: > > Sure, my laptop can. But what about the ones that can't? > > That's why I think this argument doesn't hold up well. If we're to > consider those, then what about the ones that can't handle two > 80-column windows at the font size required by the user? At the end of the day we have to pick *something*. Since those of us older farts with the older eyes tend to have more say, thankfully its stayed at 80 columns as opposed to people who can say "I have *no* trouble with terminals at 6 point font, what's your problem?" Sure it's arbitrary, but it's arbitrary the same way that if you want to make sure a car or an RV is legal in all states in the US, it had better not be more than 96 inches (8 feet). Most states will allow 102 inches (8.5 feet); but funny thing --- car manufacturers hate having multiple SKU's for different states. Heck, for that matter, chosing 8 bits for a byte and making words be mulitples of 8 bits was arbitrary. I'm sure the designer of 18-bit and 36-bit machines thought so, anyway.... - Ted