On Sunday 27 April 2003 16:37, Michael Satterwhite wrote:
On Sunday 27 April 2003 12:08, Ben Rosenberg wrote:
I also find it amazing that for the longest time people said " if it doesn't hold your hand and do A, B and C then it won't displace Windows.." and now that it hold's your hand..even to the point of holding it down as MacOSX and WinXP do...now people are bitching. I just don't think that anyone can be satisfied.
*shrug* I don't say this to start a flamewar and anyone who gets to out of line with replies will get procmailed to /dev/null... 'nuff said.
As one who accidentally started a war over this a few months ago, good luck.
Actually, I *DO* believe that until Linux has the capability to hold people's hands, it's not going to be adopted by the average person using Windows - many of whom want to turn on the computer, read their email, maybe print a greeting card or two without knowing more about the computer than they do about the workings of their toaster.
OTOH, the nature of Linux is that there are going to be users who don't want *ANY* handholding - and they are the current core Linux users.
Ideally, we need to accomodate both. Installation options to choose the type of user would be useful. I do disagree that the default should be to turn off the handholding, however. The type of user that is knowledgeable enough not to need this handholding can easily choose to turn it off. The normal person migrating from Windows may not be comfortable changing options.
I don't consider myself much more than just a 'Joe user' with Linux. I have absolutely no skills with scripting or programming or anything like that at all. I repair peoples' M$ systems, but I'm only 'upper-intermediate' with M$ knowledge (IMHO). But, after using M$' crap for 7 or 8 years, and switching over to LInux one day, litterally cold-turkey, I've now been using Linux for 3 years. As many on this list have seen, I'm no sysadmin for Linux...not by a loooong shot. Seeing this thread though and this particular post I'm answering, I would not like to see Linux become as 'user friendly' as Windows. I think that where SuSE is right now, with 8.2 is perfect. If someone can't install and run anything on it on their system without the same 'hand-holding' M$ gives, they need to get off computers or start using their brains for a change. The way I see it is like this...a person or animal when traveling, will take the path of least resistance. For people and computing, the less 'thinking' one has to do is the same thing as the 'path of least resistance', thus, less thinking is great for those who use M$, but the price they pay is huge (though they don't realize it or care, since they're too stupid, and are perfectly happy that way). Linux users are the ones who have the curiosity (a sign of intelligence), the 'want' to learn more (or at least *try* to learn more), shared idealisms (which if there were no such thing or it was 'bad', we'd all still be throwing sticks and rocks at our food to make it quit running away). I say leave the lazy, the complacent, the apathetic, with M$, the rest of us who cherish innovation, choice, the chance(s) to take the path that lets our imaginations and curiosity and ingenuity go to work and realize what *can* be. My apologies if this seems off the thread, I'm really trying to make it sound the way I'm thinking, but pain medications and medication for my severe ADD makes it hard for me to keep things in as good a perspective as most everyone else, heh. John -- A butterfly is: Pretty,soft,harmless...and useless, just like M$N. My Penguin eats butterflies.