I agree. We must rely on the intelligence of the user, instead of expecting lazyness. Requiring people to read docs is perfectly acceptable.I don't think people should ever have to read documents in order to use a product. Requiring people to read the docs suggests that the product itself isn't designed well enough that it explains its own usage.So? Why should a product have to explain it's own usage?
And it allows programmers the luxury of being lazy in their UI design. We should assume that people won't read the docs, and build our products with that assumption in mind.
Why shall we assume that? I don't see the point.
From what I understand of the Debian Project, Debian OS isn't even a product, in the strict sense. I don't think that 'providing easier ways to get Debian working' to newer users would match the spirit of the whole thing. Debian is a great system, but demands knowledge. Its a fair trade.Fine in theory. In practice, any product that is easy enough to use without reading documentation is not likely to provide an optimally efficient way to accomplish the task at hand. You can't please all of the people all of the time.
Just my two cents.