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diff --git a/docs/_posts/2013-10-06-competing-with-tail.md b/docs/_posts/2013-10-06-competing-with-tail.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b93e7bd --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/_posts/2013-10-06-competing-with-tail.md @@ -0,0 +1,23 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Competing with 'tail -f'" +date: 2013-09-10 00:00:00 +excerpt: The standard utilities are tough competition. +--- + +Probably the toughest competition for lnav is the standard Unix utilities like +tail, grep, less, and emacs/vim. It can be hard trying to convince people that +these built-in commands that they've used for forever can be improved upon. The +advanced features of lnav might even work against it since folks are expecting +to have to learn a bunch of stuff to see any benefits. + +The reality is that there are quite a few "passive" features in lnav that can +provide value with no effort required by the user. For example, lnav can easily +replace 'tail -f', it's even shorter to type! Beyond the basic task of +displaying new lines appended to a log file, you also get to see log messages +from multiple files interleaved, the ability to scroll backwards, syntax +highlighting, live searching, and so on. These basic features do not have the +same "wow" factor as executing a SQL query over data automatically extracted +from a log file, but they're the features that get used 90% of the time. + +Anyways, I think I'm gaining a new appreciation for marketing/sales... |