On Tue, Nov 19, 2002 at 12:40:13AM -0500, Robin 'Roblimo' Miller wrote:
> >
> >
> >The hardcore gearheads and coders may not like this, but "dumbing down"
> Linux
> >will bring it to the masses a lot sooner then trying to raise the masses up
> >to competancy in Unix command line operations and shell scripting.
> >
>
> I said this in an article on Time Digital's Netly News site in 1996 --
> and got cursed and flamed like mad for saying it.
You're right. But I think this could be done without sacrificing any of
the configurability and gearhead charm of Linux. Kind of like putting
Apple's Mac inferface over the top of [Unix] OS X. And slowly or quickly
(depending on how you view it) this is happening. Compare Red Hat now to
Red Hat three years ago, for example.
> Eric Raymond told me
> everyone should use emacs and learn all the internal workings of their
> computer, that we should all become coders. A woman named Cathy later
> set him straight. That's Mrs. Raymond -- a lawyer who had no desire to
> type in a bunch of commands with slashes in them to listen to a CD on
> her computer.
>
Emacs. Umm, yeeaah. I appreciate all ESR's done for us, but he's an
unrepentent geek. Sometimes he needs to be corralled and shown what the
real world is like. Linus is probably a much better example of a good
balance.
Paul
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