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Re: Back to technical discussion? Yes! (was: network-manager as default? No!)



On Tue, Apr 05, 2011 at 02:31:40PM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> On 2011-04-04 17:31:18 +0400, Stanislav Maslovski wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 04, 2011 at 05:35:10PM +0530, Josselin Mouette wrote:
> > > It seems to be a common belief between some developers that users should
> > > have to read dozens of pages of documentation before attempting to do
> > > anything.
> > > 
> > > I’m happy that not all of us share this elitist view of software. I
> > > thought we were building the Universal Operating System, not the
> > > Operating System for bearded gurus.
> > 
> > I do not think that reading documentation before trying to achieve
> > something is that elitist.
> 
> [About the general problem of documentation]
> The problem is to find the correct tools and the correct documentation.
> For instance, imagine the average user who wants for Ethernet (eth0),
> to do the following automatically (for a laptop):
>   1. use some fixed IP address if there's some peer 192.168.0.1
>      with some given MAC address;
>   2. otherwise, if an Ethernet cable is plugged in (and only in this
>      case), start a DHCP client;
>   3. make things still work after a suspend/resume.
[...]

The average user doesn't know what an IP address, MAC address or DHCP
are.  There's a reason why d-i defaults to DHCP without even asking
now.

Ben.

-- 
Ben Hutchings
We get into the habit of living before acquiring the habit of thinking.
                                                              - Albert Camus


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