<mail> command missing?

[Tristan Wibberley]

Daniel Robitaille wrote:
>>I also think an nntp server should be configured by default with a few
>>groups for home user interests too. Also setting up newsreaders on first
>>use to point to it.
>>
>>These are features that should be available on absolutely every install
>>right off the bat for every user to start using right away without
>>having to understand how to install and configure a difficult daemon,
>>and then configure all the family's client programs, because that just
>>makes Ubuntu *difficult*.
> 
> 
> I'm not sure there is a big demand for this. How many people nowadays
> even know what a nntp server is, and have never accessed newsgroups...
> 

How many people know what php and asp are? Millions still use them every
day for forums and messaging over internet connections. If you ask
someone if they would like to be able to use nntp on their machines they
might respond "What's NNTP?", but ask the same person, "Would you like
to leave messages for other people that use the computer, so they can
all see the message and leave answers for when you're next around?" and
rather more people will answer "Yeah, that might come in handy,"
especially in a community that all share one computer. If you let them
use it for a couple of years (making it really easy to get started) then
I reckon you'll get answers more like "I really want that feature, it's
turned out to be useful." It would be really useful for things like
building shopping lists - so if you want something, you just start a
thread for the next weekly shop and people drop messages on the thread
to add stuff to the list - then you don't forget anything. But few
families would realise you could even *do* that let alone put it to good
use.

Most people when asked if they wanted a computer used to say, "I've
already got a telephone and television, I don't need a computer," now
they say a resounding "Yes!". Most people don't think about knew ways of
doing things, but introduce them to it and before long they'll wonder
how they ever managed without, and it will become an essential feature
of a novice user's computer. Postfix and a simple NNTP server won't get
in anybody's way, aren't very big as packages and aren't big memory/disk
user's, but when people realise that they can even *do* what these
programs help them to do without needing an "Advanced Server" system and
an MCSA they'll be really grateful.

Most people won't use OOo-Base, OOo-Impress, OOo-Math, Gnome Text
Editor, Calculator (they'd rather use the one on the desk), most of the
gnome-games (probably just solitaire and minesweeper because those are
the ones they already know about), etc. How many would actually tell you
they needed to change the desktop theme, or use the Sessions preference,
about me, or change the mouse double-click timing. Yet these things are
all there because while users don't always have visions of what
computers could compute/process on their behalf, they still recognise
the value of those things when they find them and try them out.

My parents have had a Windows PC since 1992/3 and they have *never* used
notepad or write/wordpad even though they knew they were there, but I
wouldn't for one second suggest removing wordpad. They wouldn't have
even thought of email as being useful, but get them to try talking to
their sons through text for free, leaving a message at any time of day
or night, and they love it and couldn't imagine it not being available.

If you sit around waiting for your users to foresee the utility of a new
feature you'll never have a useful system.

-- 
Tristan Wibberley