On Sat, Feb 10, 2007 at 07:47:35PM -0500, Douglas Allan Tutty wrote:
> [...]
> Such new users are missing the CLI skills needed to fix their system.
> If their X is broken and they know neither mutt nor mailx then they
> can't even call for help.
> [...]
I have to disagree. Since the Ubuntu installation runs from a Live-CD
(don't know exactly since when but at least from 6.06) there would be
at least a way to go online and reach the ubuntu community. Of
course this would only work if the hardware is detected correctly,
but if Ubuntu wouldn't have done that during installation such a GUI
user wouldn't be Ubunutu user anyway.
But if those users are really afraid of the command line, reaching the
community for help maybe won't be of any help anyway. But there would
still be the option to reinstall from scratch, since it is the known
way from the windows world. But then Ubuntu (or Linux) would most
likely be no different or even worse then Windows in the eyes of such
users.
Anyway I see no alternative for CLI if things get really messed up or
broken. If one really want's to know the cause of problems and then
fix it, the CLI would always be the way to go IMHO. There is plenty of
information how to fix things, and even the most stupid user in the
world should be able to copy/paste the commands needed from the web
site to the Terminal (he does not necessarily have to understand every
bit of it). Also it is the easiest way to get information from such
user; just ask: "What does '<command>' return? Just enter these
commands and copy/paste the output into your reply to our question."
Even if it were possible to do by the point and click method, just
imagine how difficult it were to explain in visual language, the
overhead of words would be enormous. (see above: Why is reinstallation
from scratch the way to go with Windows?)
Just my 2¢
Regards
--
Marcus Blumhagen
"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more
violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move
in the opposite direction."
-- Albert Einstein
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