Why is there no platform independent way of clearing a terminal?

[Roy Smith]

In article <i33hiu$rsq$1 at lust.ihug.co.nz>,
 Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo at geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:

> In message <8bkosiFpihU2 at mid.individual.net>, Gregory Ewing wrote:
> 
> > Don't you just leave the machine on overnight and wait
> > for Microsoft to download all the stuff they think
> > you should be using?
> 
> That’s fine, but it doesn’t handle the non-Microsoft stuff.

You've apparently never worked in a big company.  Your IT department 
downloads whatever *they* think you should be using.  Eventually, your 
machine is so slow, you can't get any work done.