Camaleón <[email protected]> writes: > On Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:55:50 +0200, lee wrote: > >> Camaleón <[email protected]> writes: > > (...) > >>>> This discussion was about users trying to use the D/i to install >>>> Debian. >>> >>> Nope. The core discusion was around "untechie" users and "Linux" in >>> general. >> >> see Message-ID: >> <[email protected]> > > Exactly. > > It starts with "(...) The most 'untechie' person on the planet can use > any Linux distribution once it is installed..."
Which is a very vague statement: What characterises "the most untechie person on the planet"? For all I know, that could be someone who hasn't even been born yet. What is "use any Linux distribution" supposed to mean? There are a great number of things Linux can be used for, and when someone has installed a distribution of it, that doesn't mean that they can use it. Anyway, it goes on with: ,---- | Installation has made tremendous leaps forward, but the average end user | doesn't have the faintest idea what partitioning is or what it's for. They | have no idea of file systems and until there are FULL explanations of | these two implementations in installation procedures, written on a level a | primary school pupil can understand, things are not going to change. `---- So now there is suddenly an "average end user", whatever that is. It seems to be about the assumptions that an "average end user" is no more capable of understanding partitioning and file systems than a 6 or 7 year old is and that a 6--7 year old is perfectly capable of understanding file systems and partitioning, provided given suitable explanations. IIRC, we entirely failed to discuss these two assumptions yet. I have some doubts that a 6--7 year old is capable of understanding file systems and partitioning, no matter what explanations they are given. Even if they are capable, I guess they are too much concerned with other things than file systems and partitioning as to understand those. At least, they would have to be really really really interested in them and be able to understand and speak a language suitable to give them explanations. But then, the first computer I've had had neither file systems, nor partitions, so what do I know? Nowadays, these are part of common knowledge. >>>> You may say that users don't install operating systems. Some do, some >>>> don't, so what? >>> >>> Untechie users do not install an operating system, they only use it. >>> >>> Maybe you are referring to those "untechie" users that have a positive >>> "attitude" and go an step forward by reading documents and dedicating >>> their time to understand how a computer works. >>> >>> That's my point: a modern operating system is not easy or hard for >>> users, all can be done and is just up to them. >> >> I'm referring to "users", which are "people" in the first place. > > But there are many grades of users, from advanced to non-skilled. > Untechies are the target for this whole thread. When you look closely, you'll find that 6--7 year old people are targeted. (That's assuming that at the age of 6 or 7 people enter primary school, which used to be the case in this country when I did. There are lots of people who never go to school, what about those? Should we just ignore them?) When you look at how many people can read, that seems to be globally only 82%, see [1]. I don't trust this data, it seems to greatly overestimate the actual numbers. It assumes 99% for Germany while Germany assumes only 85.5% for itself, see [2] and [3]. According to [3], it would be only 82% for Germany. So what are the actual numbers? More like around 50% and less? (I' don't know how [2] comes up with 82%, i. e. if it's the average of the percentages they list or if that is weighted according to the number of people living in each country. The latter is what I was looking for and couldn't find: What's the percentage of people who cannot read and write when considering all the people currently on this planet as 100%? I find it interesting that this information isn't easy to get.) [1]: http://world.bymap.org/LiteracyRates.html [2]: http://www.alphabetisierung.de/infos/faq.html [3]: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analphabetismus >> Some install OSs, some don't. You seem to assume that people who don't >> really know what they are doing do not install OSs. > > No, only those untechies that show the attitude to install an OS and > these are the exceptions not the norm. In which way is this relevant? >> Who really knows what they are doing when they do that? > > People who read does know, that's what docs are for :-) They can and will read and understand and know only so much. Did you read and understand the source code of the kernel so that you know how the file systems actually work? And what if I told you that you are required to do that before installing Debian? And do you even have the source code of the windoze kernel so that you could read and understand it before installing it? And I take it you're older than 6 or 7 years ;) -- Debian testing amd64 -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [email protected] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [email protected] Archive: http://lists.debian.org/[email protected]
