Purple Shirt wrote:
From: Curtis Rey
But, if you want the general public to get behind it and support/use it you'll have to make function on their level. But here is the problem. Does Linux fit this bill? Yeah in Windows you can push and click your way through things but in Linux the console and commands in my mind are unavoidable.
sigh... the thing is, *I* have a degree in Computer Science, plus 10 years experience in working in programming with sh, C and Java and Unix computer system administration - all on various platforms of Unix. I have YET to see any command line commands that can not be duplicated with a well written text menu or GUI. I think if people want Linux to succeed in the wider market, then they will HAVE to invest time in making the installation more fool-proof (have the installation memorize the choices made in installation and automatically create a script so I don't have to do it myself) and in making it easier all around to do things without having to know the details. I use the command line for sysadmin when I must - I love it for writing scripts. People prefer push-n-click in dealing with stuff - *I* prefer it, because I don't WANT to spend days learning new software to be able to install it. I simply do not have the interest or time. I only want it to work with minimal effort on my part. Sun Solaris can be set up to do this. It doesn't usually take a ton of effort to set things up on Sun machines. It doesn't take a ton of effort to figure out how to make installations automatic using Sun machines. I've watched Linux since the beginning, pretty much. I installed it a couple of times. I decided it was not work my effort, because the thing was simply changing too much and took too much effort on my part, and did not have a decent user interface, compared to other UNIX installations. I would rather pay for quality and support than have something free just because its free or has some neat licensing. I'm currently using linux because it was here when I got to this location (transferred in). I would prefer Sun because their OS is more robust and I get more support. But Linux is certainly getting there.
Plus they are the most powerful enttiies which come with a Unix OS. And you mentioned a person shouldn't have to know how to work an IV. I consider a firewall a highly sophisticated instrument and I do not think it is the duty of the programming community to spend ten years on the development of a utility til they finally managed to make it usable by every person out there. Firewalls I think belong in the domain of the more educated computer professionals.
Oh please! It would not be hard to design and code a front end that would prompt the user for options (with help to describe them if needed) and then run the commands in the background with the given options. It doesn't take 10 years to develop front ends - for anyone with experience in trying to please users. There are fields within the computer community that specialize in designing user friendly applications (I don't think MS has figured this out though).
I doubt a person would get much support from any government to run a business which teaches 'PlugnPlay IVs' to the general public.
Why not? There's now a plugNPlay piece of hardware that shocks people having a heart attack that almost ANYONE can use. Its saving lifes. I think if people can design something like that to be usable by the average joe, it should be a snap to design a front end for system administration (including firewalls) that works well and is user friendly. This is certainly true for the desktop, which seems to be rapidly improving. Walter