linux = impossible? (no offense meant!)

Peter L. Peres plp-ysDPMY98cNQDDBjDh4tngg at public.gmane.org
Sat Nov 8 22:06:42 UTC 2003


> But most existing Linux users are going to reject that route at the end
> of the day because they are accustomed to making those decisions and
> even experimenting.  Anything else would be like having a unix shell,
> and a straight jacket.

I do not understand why people expect a professional tool to feel and
handle like a $10 electric screwdriver. If demand exists then a GUI that
implements that functionality can be made (and this is already so in Suse,
Red Hat, Mandrake, and others).

There are application reviews, opinions, screenshots, everything. Whoever
needs to ask has not read enough on the web imho. While asking friends
opinions is nice, it is not a replacement for doing your homework. You do
shop around when preparing to buy payware for Windows, don't you ? Why not
for linux apps ?

> There is another problem with unix, which I think is less legitimate:
> people are scared of the command line and following instructions.  Most
> people simply want to click a button and be done with it.  It doesn't

People are not supposed to know 2000 commands by heart or read manpages ad
absurdum (my favorite description of unix is 4-letter commands with
100-page apologies). Whenever someone cannot achieve that knowledge
someone more knowledgeable builds a menu system for him/her so it becomes
manageable. There is no shortage of tools for doing that, or of people
willing to do it. It even works for command line (menus).

Again, imho, you expect a professional quality os to have the look & feel
of a $10 electric screwdriver. If you really want that, ask around and you
will likely get it. And the bs-itters who go around telling horror stories
about linux had better pack up. There *is* a way to do everything, whining
about its not being there is not one of them.

Peter
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