Easy way/script to add another user like me?

[Tommy Trussell]

On 2/24/06, Alan McKinnon <alan at linuxholdings.co.za> wrote:
> The GUI is for *user* tasks and common predictable system
> tasks. For anything else, we have this wonderful tool that has been
> around for 37 years called the shell. It's not elitism - there's a
> certain minimum amount of expertise and knowledge required to perform
> system tasks, and doing them through a shell effectively separates
> those who may do it from those who have no business being near that
> stuff.

I'm going to (provisionally) accept your argument that my suggestion
is a horrible idea from an engineering standpoint (because I really
don't know what I'm talking about on that level).

HOWEVER as a long-time computer user I believe a fully discoverable
and usable GUI reflects a well-thought-out system underneath, and
should be usable for all levels of administration. I think relying on
CLI tools is not "elitism" but a symptom of an inconsistent system
underneath. Maybe the idea is heresy in these parts but I believe
ultimately all the system tasks on a stock system should be manageable
from a GUI.

In this thread we've been discussing how to transfer parameters from
one user account to another. If the idea of copying and pasting
parameters is a bad idea, then how about a way to display one user's
parameters and a "diff" of another user's parameters (or of the
prototypical "skel" user) so the needed changes are more evident?
Maybe this isn't a compelling use of programming resources but I think
it's a legitimate concern when setting up a second user account.

Of course this pie-in-the-sky speculation probably doesn't belong on
this list, and I apologize for the bandwidth.