On 1999-10-07 [EMAIL PROTECTED] <Bob George> said:
>I still can not understand the argument that a CLI is somehow more
>"powerful". I have an even harder time understanding how a textual
>interface can even come close to providing the representation of
>vast amounts of information needed in an analog world. I suppose if
>the intent were to commune with the machine, "closeness" could be
>argued, but I find even that a bit far-fetched.
My argument, I suppose, is that the CLI is a more natural outgrowth of
scholarly development and technology -- with respect to "abstract"
knowledge. By abstract knowledge, I mean the principles of logic in the
various schools of thought. I'm worried that, if the *primary* direction of
operating system development concentrates too much on graphical form, it's
simply wasteful and distracting to the overall learning process -- roughly
like relying too much on a calculator to perform complex mathematics without
understanding the principles of the subject. I realize the important place
of graphics -- our world is not made of letters and paper. But good
communication skills will suffer with too much attention to how "pretty" we
make our words. I personally have noticed a marked decline in the quality
of written material in all of its forms -- from college level, to
entertainment level, to business level, to media level.... etc..
>Now I'm not going to even suggest that Windows is the "best" (nor
>the "worst") OS for any given purpose. Merely that a GUI is not
>inherently less powerful. ANYTHING that isolates the user from the
>inner workings of the machine, be it a text interface with
>restrictions on operation or a GUI, is less powerful.
What is more important to me is the mark that is made on the *inner person*
who relies too heavily on visual appeal, instead of logical appeal.
I realize that this topic is quite a bit off topic -- but I *do* believe
that a principle of survival exists with the subject, insofar as I think
some of what is considered to be *old* technology has more common sense than
the new... and we should try to preserve common sense!
>- Bob
>Advocate of doing sensible things with operating systems
So be it.
C:\>________j_e_r_r_y__j__h_a_u_m_b_e_r_g_e_r________
C:\>__an_advocate_of_sensible_cli_operating_systems__
-*- Teach others how to think, not to mimic!
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