walt wrote:
Like Walt, I respectfully disagree. The reason Windows is buggy (to put it mildly) is not that they dumbed down the interface (which is no easier to use than any other popular GUI I know of) but that they thought that if they made a pretty, easy-to-use GUI, they could forget about the kerbnel (or whatever they call kernels in Microstan). As Bill Gates himself said, "If you can't make it good, make it look good." The rot set in before Windows came out - the reason DOS got it's name was that it was a slightly altered version of an OS called QDOS, which stood for Quick and Dirty Operating System.On Mon, 2003-01-20 at 13:05, daRcmaTTeR wrote:On Wed, 15 Jan 2003, Colin McElhatton wrote:The single BIGGEST problem for end user to this day remains being able to "find" the information that will get them going and *their* willingness to avail themselves of that information and learn it. simply dumbing down the interface and the core processes of the system will _never_ make a better, more usable system. It only makes one weaker and far less stable. I believe windows is perfect proof of this.
IMHO, Mandrake is a good example of how to make things easy without system sacrifices. In particular, it has the easiest installation and configuration software I know of.
That's why there are Macintoshes. I've lost track of the number of people to whom I've said "If you're not heavily into games and want a computer that just works, shell out the extra money for a Macintosh" (I'm not a traitor to the cause - I just don't want computer illiterates trying to use Linux then dissing it because they screw up with Linux just as much as they did with Linux).But it is this "dumbing down" that will sell linux (and this is a shame!!!) ..people do not want to do anything but turn on a computer and have everything work the first time, every time.
Windows - designed for dummies by dummies
Linux - designed for clever people by clever people
Macintosh - designed for dummies by clever people
Or as Dave Barry put it: "The other type of computer is the 'Apple', which I do not recommend, as it is a New Age wussorama computer that you basically just plug in and use."
Actually, in a strange kind of way, I'm glad IBM gave the contract for developing a PC-compatible operating system to a bunch of long-haired ne'er-do-wells like Microsoft. Otherwise, Apple might have ruled the desktop world, and we'd be faced with a hardware monopoly as well as a software monopoly.
Linux has come a long
way since I first tried it 5 years ago. I do not have everything workingThat's why _you_ don't need to spend the extra money for a Mac! I've had my share of problems with Linux, just as I did with Windows. The difference is that when I finally fixed a problem in Windows, I still had very little idea about what was going on (incidentally I used to have a book called something like "Windows 95 Bugs", and it was a looong book). When I fix a problem in Linux - or even sometimes when I fail to fix it - I usually learn something useful.
properly yet but I know that I will because I am willing to do some
research and ask questions.
I have winxp on another hard drive but
haven't used it for about a week or so now. (I actually thought that II see the detoxification process is complete. Maybe we should have a 12-step program for Windows dependency. It should start with everyone getting up and saying "My name is ..., and I'm a Windows user." I must admit I haven't kicked the habit completely - I still tell myself "Well just one little reboot into Windows won't hurt."
couldn't live without it, LOL)
I recently met a colleague who is vaguely familiar with Linux, but uses Windows XP because he has a lot of "legit" Windows software he's paid for (unusual in this country) and wants to get his money's worth. That's like people who go to the cinema, don't like the film, but stay until the end because they've paid for their tickets.
Sir Robin
--
"Difficulty is a coin which the learned conjure
with so as not to reveal the vanity of their studies."
- Montaigne
Robin Turner
IDMYO
Bilkent Univeritesi
Ankara 06533
Turkey
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
