Re: Clueless users are bad for debian (was Let's CENSOR it!)
First of all, this is not a flame.
Second, we should make Debian as easy to use as possible, without
sacrificing flexibility. Why should anything under Debian be an
extensive chore?
Debian Linux, for example, is the free source version of Linux
(obviously). It is better than Red Hat by every standard. Yet Red Hat is
used more.
This is because programmers are "minimalist" by nature, not wanting to
spend time doing extra work when other programmers can figure it out. Red
Hat does not make that assumption, at least, part of the time.
So the question becomes, "Who are we, as Debian, going to accomodate when
the distributions are designed?"
People aren't stupid or dumb, they simply lack the experience and other
knowledge that you and I take for granted. I'm not going to suggest that
we get crazy about this -- it is the decision that belongs to the
maintainer of the package as to how friendly it is.
Without taking anything away from RH, I would like to see Debian become
the #1 distribution - making it a little more user friendly will help.
"Clueless" users aren't bad for Debian. They are a part of the community
that Debian serves. Perhaps batting this issue around may cause a flame
war between the "user friendly" and the "efficient" methodology - but
I'll take the risk, as long as we can remain adults about it. This
is something we need to consider very closely. Debian, at least in part,
or in spirit, depends on the public.
Software is useless to most of the public - even if it well written - if
it takes a Ph.D and 15 docs/manpages to reconfigure or install it as
needed. I think we need to strike a balance.
Thanks for reading...
T.J. Duchene
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The eternal question: "Why me?" The universe's answer: "Why not?"
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