Graphical interfaces are simply documentation with buttons. When designed
well, they are *much* easier to learn independently, just by exploring the
various menus and experimenting, which opens the possibility of a GNUbie
trying out GNU/Linux without being personally recruited and trained by an
existing user. This helps our movement grow much faster, and is tremendously
good for the cause of software freedom.
There are many advantages to the repository system we use in GNU/Linux, such
as automatic dependency management, clean uninstallation, and being able to
download most software from trusted sources, instead of random websites. But
it is a very different approach from what GNUbies are used to, which means
there is already a steep learning curve.
Everything we can do to make this curve gentler is good for software freedom.
I can't stress this enough. Thus, having a simple, graphical installer like
A/R A for graphical end-user applications (and only these) is a no-brainer.
Once a GNUbie gets settled into GNU/Linux, they can move to Synaptic, which
means they start to learn about package names, dependencies etc. It would be
great if Synaptic displayed the commands its back-end is running, to coach
the user about how to do the same thing in a terminal once they feel
confident enough.
>> That is "being overly comfortable" and might as well be seen as "been
lazy" but lazy in a stupid way IMHO.. I don't think being overly comfortable
and lazy can be defined as "nothing wrong with that" > mind that this comes
from a guy that uses GUI for pretty much everything.
