System Restore

[Morten W. J.]

On Tuesday den 21. June 2005 08:59, Shawn Christopher wrote:
> Ok, I am going to open this discussion back up again because I feel
> truly provoked to make a point as was made before.
Go ahead. I'm new to /this/ list and haven't heard it before.

> I will throw in my lot on the "I think a System Restore" utility
> *should* be built into Ubuntu. The big selling point on WindowsXP is
> that "hey if I mess it up THEN, I can click this button and go
> back...and click it again.....and go back again. Till the problem is
> fixed". So I can take the risk. With Linux it is not so.
Yes it is. You make a copy of the configurationfile you are about to change 
before you edit it. Then you can always copy the origianl back. You do not 
even have to restart your computer and you only modify the relevant part of 
you configuration.

"Sure" one may say,"but you don't have that opportunity with GUI frontends!?!" 
Exactely Do not use them. If you do not know what you are doing learn it and 
stop whining about lack of backup-functionality. And do NOT, I repeat do NOT 
use GUI's just because you do not know what you are doing. Gain knowledge and 
do things the proper way.

> Giving this kind of support to the users as far as hey...it's so easy to
> use your mom or dad, or grandma, or wife can do it
But do we want that to happen? Personally I do not need the world to be Linux 
over Windows/Qnx/MacOS/[your favorite OS here]. I want a stable OS with a 
good looking window manager giving me the power I need, and Linux has evolved 
into that without the enormous userbase Windows has. 
So I don't care if Windows people can "Click'n'pray" as they are used to, but 
if the ask questions on how to set up their system I'll answer the best I 
can. 

If that means some people can't make the shift to another OS than what they 
are used to - so what? They are hopefully happy where they are and if not 
they'll have to learn.

My experience is that the the need for automatization is needed only when one 
is uncertain about what one is doing - and you per definition is in Windows 
as you never know what configuration files are modified, copied or deleted. 
Do this by hand and you do not need a "System Restore" thingy to add more 
automagically performed tasks.

> (I migrated my wife from OSX to Ubuntu PPC) 
Good for her if she is happy about it.

> I have a few ideas as to how it SHOULD work however I don't do any
> coding so my SHOULD == 0. 

Actually, I see SHOULD = 0, and your SHOULD equals WHAT_YOU_SHOULD as you 
distribute Linux distributions th those curious but without access to a broad 
band connection.

-- 
Morten W. Jørgensen