First of all thanks to all responded. As I mentioned I am not igniting a
fire so am not to address individually though I have different view. 

Just want to clarify that when I mentioned "friendly user interface" I
did say not necessary a GUI. I feel sorry many ignored that.

Unix Kernel, IBM MVS, etc., were spotted out to be compared with Amanda
to challenge my point (good user interface is a measure of good
software). I have no words to comment further on this direction: they
are just not comparable. 

I agree that in case of amanda failure, one could restore data using
mt/tar/gtar/dd. Was it also a design assumption? Anyway it does not make
sense talking about user interface for this scenario.

My intention is not to comment more on this thread. Let's keep our own
views.

Thomas