RE: [TCLUG:4288] Not-So-Rosy article in Star Trib

["Eric Hillman" <ehillman@cccu.com>]

> On Wed, 24 Feb 1999, you wrote:
> > >
>
http://www2.startribune.com/cgi-bin/stOnLine/article?thisSlug=test24&date=24
-Feb-1999
> >
> > 'useradd steve' is cryptic?  Wow.  I must be weird
> > (FYI - I think Slackware's adduser utility was far easier to use than
> > what I have to deal with in RedHat..  *shrug*)
>
> Well, I do agree with the author that Linux is *not* ready for average
> 'Joe User", but some of the 'tainted' facts he used were rather annoying.
>
> Such as, thousands of linux users?
>
> And the portrayl of the command being:
>
> [root@bigdot/door]# useradd Steve
>
> To someone who hasn't used linux, the whole like looks like a command, not
> just the 'useradd Steve' part, making it seem worse than it actually is.

	I thought that was a little cheap too.
	And as for Linux being for the average Joe User -- of course it's
intimidating at first, but I think that to a computer novice, *any*
operating system is intimidating at first.  Someoneorother once said, "The
only intuitive interface is the nipple.  Everything else is learned." --
I'm sure that anyone who's ever watched someone have their very first
experience with a computer will second that.  The difference is that once
you've broken through the initial wall of confusion with Linux, you find
yourself understanding your computer far better than the average Mac or
Windows user, because you're less shielded from the system.

	I think what Steve is going through, and unwilling to admit, is that he's
having to return to being a novice at something at which he feels he should
be an expert.  I know when I first encountered Unix many a year ago (on an
old AT&T Unix PC -- wish I still had that thing), the first thing I did was
write a few dozen aliases to make it behave more like DOS.  It took a while
to unlearn my old habits and begin to recognize the OS for what it was, and
use it in the way it was intended.  In the end, having stayed the course
made me a much more proficient computer user.

	I certainly hope that the future will not see a lot of companies
Nerf-coating Linux to make it more appealing to the entry-level user.
Better documentation, would be nice, sure (the book that comes with RedHat
Linux distros is nearly completely useless), but the last thing I want to
see is a Linux designed for people who don't want to know anything about
their computer.

---

Eric Hillman
CCCU -- UNIX Sysadmin
ehillman@cccu.com
The opinions expressed in this message are mine.  You can't have them.