Thanks to all - but Ubuntu is for geeks

[Andrew Jorgensen]

On 12/20/05, Terry North <terrencenorth at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> Finally, I've seen comments here about Ubuntu being for the ordinary user.  It
> isn't.  It's for geeks.

(When I refer to "you" below I refer to the original poster mostly and
those who agree with him)

Good technology of any kind is always hardest to use for newbies (I'm
using the term newbies to refer to those working to become experts but
not there yet).  Experts and non-technical users both do just fine. 
There are many examples of this principle.  Your comments are one good
example.  Go ask your companies IT staff which users give them the
most trouble and I can assure you they'll agree with me that it's the
ones who are smart enough to get themselves in trouble but not
experienced enough to get themselves out.

Bicycles are another great example.  I have many friends and relatives
who own bicycles.  The ones who know how to repair them have bicycles
in good repair.  The ones who only ride them and have no interest in
learning how to repair them also have theirs in good repair.  The ones
(like me) who know something about it and could probably fix it
themselves with a little effort rarely ride bicycles because they are
usually broken.

LaTeX (or TeX) is another wonderful example of this principle.  LaTeX
is a very powerful document preparation system, but more importantly
it's very smart and generally does "the right thing".  A good rule of
thumb when using it is to remember that it knows best and you don't. 
If you trust it and let it do it's thing it will produce beatiful
output.  If you fight with it and try to make it do things the way you
think they should be done you will be very frustrated and think it's
an awful program with no flexibility.  If, going further, you really
learn what it's about and how to manipulate it you can make it do what
you want with relative ease.

Your trouble is that you are somewhere on the steep learning curve
that will take you from the bliss of ignorance to the power of
expertise.  In this limbo in the middle you will often find yourself
frustrated.  Don't give up and don't get surly.  Consider it your
baptism of fire.  Once it's over and you truly become an expert (yes,
I'm sure you're already an expert at many things already) I think
you'll agree that what Ubuntu (and Kubuntu) are trying to do with
usability is not far from the best they could possibly do.

I, for one, am grateful for the simplicity and cleanliness I've
enjoyed while using Ubuntu.  My wife, my sister-in-law and my
brother-in-law all use Ubuntu quite happily.  They are ordinary users.
 You, unfortunately, are not an ordinary user but rather a user on his
way to becoming a power-user (or hacker, or whatever it is you're
working toward).  I'm sorry that the transition isn't more comfortable
for you.  I think that's the way it needs to be.  No pain no gain.

That's not to say that all of your points were invalid.  There's still
much work to be done, particularly with X.

- Andrew Jorgensen