Re: A good charge against free operating systems
On Fri, Mar 09, 2001 at 12:40:07PM +0100, Frodo Baggins wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 09, 2001 at 11:03:06AM +0100, Fr?d?ric Aguiard scripsit:
> >...snip...
> > You can't ask a secretary to understand all the complexity of a linux
> > system. You can't even ask her to use a shell, nor anything like vi or latex
> > or anything else. This is not HER job. She just needs a tool, a tool
> > providing her what she needs for her daily work, a tool that does not break
> > up in her hands while just using basis functions, nor doing something
> > reasonably foolish.
> > I, as a computer engineer, can understand most of the subtle technical
>
> This is bullshit. Classical from head-inflated engineer to despise of
> 'secretary' as unable to understand the wonderful things they do oh
> soooooooo weeeeeeeeeeellllll.
Agreed, sounds like a case of Ivory Tower Syndrome to me. Personally, I
think the problem doesn't lie in learning another OS (in this case
linux), it's *unlearning* what one is used to (in this case microsoft).
Many a vaunted engineer has proclaimed they can't get anything done in
windows because they're used to *nix, the same is true for your average
clerical worker as well. Primarily because, until recently, decent
office products were only available with windows, therefore it was
adopted.
I remember seeing the secretaries at a hospital when I was a child,
typing away on terminals connected to the hospitals refrigerator-sized
minicomputer. I don't know what OS it was, but they sure as hell didn't
seem to have a problem with cryptic command sequences or the CLI.
It's all about what you're used to, not what you're "capable" of.
-Rob
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