Ubuntu is under attack

[Michael Shigorin]

On Mon, Dec 19, 2005 at 02:05:35PM -0500, Eric Dunbar wrote:
> You are in the "1%" of users (vanishingly small number anyway)
> who hack your prefences files (and other things... like having
> root).  These are not in the realm of the repertoire OR NEED of
> the vast majority of users.

Universal and extensible computer isn't needed for them either.
They need gatgets and appliances in UNIX way -- tools that are
doing roughly one thing per piece but doing it thoroughly.

I'd hate my mobile to hang when I call someone, and Nokia's good
enough at being an appliance (although J2ME and feature bloat
don't help power consumption and reliability, and avoiding those 
is somewhat unrealistic today).

Just as well, I was largely amused when my camera once spewed 
a debug log onto SD card (turned out the firmware was written 
in C++).  Not that I'm not used to logs or don't understand 
why they might want to do that somewhere during a few emergency
shutdowns with low battery, but the software inside didn't really
step in the way, it Just Worked.

Personal *Computer* is simply too much for Joe Average,
it consists of too much parts interconnected so sloppily.
Moreso on programmatic layer.

*Computer* with universal user interface is needed for those who
might need or enjoy the added power of being able to program it,
one way or another.  There are different layers, from 400-byte
virii to year balance script in Excel.  With different interfaces 
-- but those which are more or less *hard* and demanding to learn.

Everyone else might just not want these headaches, as well as 
these gains.  They could be even no gains but lost time, heh?

-- 
 ---- WBR, Michael Shigorin <mike at altlinux.ru>
  ------ Linux.Kiev http://www.linux.kiev.ua/