<div dir="ltr">When one of my grandchildren ceases to behave rationally, we just totally ignore him. <div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Smoot Carl-Mitchell <<a href="mailto:smoot@tic.com">smoot@tic.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><div class="Ih2E3d">On Sat, 2008-08-02 at 13:38 -0400, Michael "TheZorch" Haney wrote: > Ok, I don't check my email in a while and this shit happens. What > started all of this anyway? Can't find the originating message. > > It does irk me when people at Digg.com bitch & moan about the Linux > terminal or compiling programs to install them. I grew up using the > command line starting with the Apple IIe all the way up to Unix and > final version of straight MS/PC-DOS before Win95 made ever young > computer users since then a spoiled brat. Yes, the GUI has made people > spoiled, and I admit I'm a bit spoiled by it too but I don't bitch & > moan when I need to open a terminal window or compile a piece of source > code. Yes, you can do just about everything from the GUI in Windows, </div>Amen, brother! I have always thought that GUIs were to sell software to managers. :-) In all seriousness, a good GUI desktop is useful and makes the system more accessible to novice users. However, the underlying CLI is very powerful and it is useful to know it is there and how it can be used. I also do not think you need to have a system to do everything in the GUI. For little used functionality it is acceptable to drop to the CLI. I have been such a long time Unix/Linux user and administrator that doing this is second nature to me. I can see how it can be daunting to those not familiar with the Unix computing paradigm and we should make every effort to make the system as simple as possible to us for the most common tasks. I think the desktop managers (Gnome and KDE) have come a long way in usability and functionality over many years of development and I applaud the developers for their diligence. We do need to realize that GNU/Linux is not going to satisfy all users, but I think it is important that there be a choice in desktop computing. I am happy to see Apple doing well with OSX and that desktop use of GNU/Linux is growing. Having a monoculture on the desktop is a bad thing for computing as a whole. -- Smoot Carl-Mitchell System/Network Architect <a href="mailto:smoot@tic.com">smoot@tic.com</a> +1 480 922 7313 cell: +1 602 421 9005 <div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"> -- ubuntu-users mailing list <a href="mailto:ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com">ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users</a> </div></div></blockquote></div> -- Regards, Dick Dowdell 508-498-7919/508-528-4018 </div>