Derek wrote: > > Here's an article which manages to summarise an awful lot of the > problems with user facing UNIX: > > http://www.osOpinion.com/Opinions/ToddBurgess/ToddBurgess1.html -------- Original Message -------- Subject: OsOpinion Date: Wed, 14 Jul 1999 17:08:23 +0200 From: Waldo Bastian To: tburgess@netcom.ca Hi Todd, With interest did I read your piece about Linux for the Masses. I agree with you in the first two chapters, but I find your recommendations in the last chapter "Linux For The Masses" remarkable. You describe a system which can be bought today in the store. It is called iMac. It is perfect for a new computer-illiterate user. However, you underestimate users (Perhaps you secretly consider users to be stupid??) by assuming that users will always stay computer-illiterate. When people use computers for a longer period of time, they start to learn more about how the system works. Their knowledge grows and with their knowledge their requirements on the computer system grow. A truly well-designed system takes this into account and allows the user to grow. And when the user grows, the system should start to offer the user more of its potentials. Sure, a first time user should not need to touch a CLI ever. But that doesn't mean it shouldn't be possible to use a CLI. Unix has become a success because it is a very powerfull system. Sacrificing power for ease of use will turn it in a mediocre system. The key to success is to make a system which is both powerfull and easy to use. Unix has a track record of the first, Apple of the latter. Let's make system which combines the best of both worlds. Cheers, Waldo Bastian bastian@kde.org -- The "gui" in "Penguin" is pronounced "K-D-E" -- Send posts to: kde@lists.netcentral.net Send all commands to: kde-request@lists.netcentral.net Put your command in the SUBJECT of the message: "subscribe", "unsubscribe", "set digest on", or "set digest off" PLEASE READ THE ARCHIVED MESSAGES AT http://lists.kde.org/ BEFORE POSTING ********************************************************************** This list is from your pals at NetCentral