Comments on: Let’s get something straight

By: When you put it that way … « Motho ke motho ka botho

When you put it that way … « Motho ke motho ka botho — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:27:49 +0000

[...] as I’ve mentioned in the past, for some people (like me) that idea is exactly the opposite: The appeal lies in not needing to use [...]

By: seltied

seltied — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:54:31 +0000

I feel the need, late at night on this Monday, to agree on this one. Not quite the wordsmith though, I will do my best. Without getting verbally assaulted (but I hear the Linux crew is a tame group), I must admit that I am an avid Windows user; born and bred, as it may be, on every version of Microsoft’s offering since Windows for Workgroups 3.11. With that in mind, the most intriguing (and often engrossing) part of “old” Windows was the capability to make magic happen via the old white-on-black command line. In fact, it was often vital for certain commands (such as finding out the MAC address of your system).

To assume that the command line is faux pas and unusable to the majority of a user base is, quite simply, to make the same mistake that progressive versions of Windows have done: assume your users are ignorant. Try using the command line in Windows Vista and you are warned (via the ingenious User Access Control) that you may be “damaging” your system. It goes to show that the mystique and romance of plodding through text-based interfaces no longer exists. I cannot count how many times I would get looks of amazement and bewildered wonder when I would launch the Command Prompt in windows, maximize it to full screen, and start banging away on tracert, ipconfig, and ping commands to find out why an Internet connection wasn’t working. Co-workers would gasp in awe! And yes, PetePete, I do know what “grep pattern files” means, because to me, the excitement of command line usage lies not in the frustration and assumed ignorance of not getting a command to work, but the sense of accomplishment and reinforcement when it does work. In my opinion, every user, be it Linux, Windows, or MacOS, should have that sense of accomplishment and excitement when they sit at the keyboard.

Just my two cents. Rock on, K.

By: Boycott Novell » Links 08/10/2008: More GNU/Linux Mini-Laptops, Recession Helping FOSS?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 03:01:42 +0000

[...] Let’s get something straight [...]

By: Dr Small

Dr Small — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:17:20 +0000

Writing (or taking screenshots) of how to do a certain task in the GUI generally takes about 3 times longer than it would to write a simple two string command that anyone can execute in the command line, regardless of what DE or WM you are running.

I say, the command line should stay, and it will stay. There are far to many users that use it for every day usage (mainly because it saves alot of time). Besides, how would I run my server, without a command line? What are we going to do now, eliminate SSH and write some GUI SSH Server that operates without a command line? Foolishness.

By: Colin Jones

Colin Jones — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 01:29:36 +0000

I have a relatively new computer, 2.2 ghz and 1 gb of ram, but I’ve found that 90% of the time I’m using terminals to do stuff. ncmpc for music, ssh and friends, emacs, the date command, my todo list, etc.

And if you get ride of the terminals, people would have no idea what to do in the event that X stopped working.

If they don’t like the terminal they should just remove it from their own menus, not force us to do the same. Or if they’re worried about new users having to use the terminal, they should write a graphical tutorial wizard for teaching the cli.

*end rant*

By: CLI cheatsheet wallpaper « Motho ke motho ka botho

CLI cheatsheet wallpaper « Motho ke motho ka botho — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:50:37 +0000

[...] Ubuntu GTK1.2 Remix « Let’s get something straight [...]

By: びっくり

びっくり — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:49:19 +0000

You know Windows was a dominant force for many years, regardless of the fact that I could pull up a DOS prompt and enter commends. I think it is possible to create an OS that will serve the average user, but maintain more flexibility for the user that wants to control things. I’ll stick with Ubuntu for now; although I rarely use the command line.

By: zmjjmz

zmjjmz — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:22:46 +0000

What confuses me more is that both Mac OS X and Windows have a command line, and look how they’re doing!
So how would getting rid of the command line help Linux?

By: darrelljon

darrelljon — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:21:26 +0000

Yeah! If user’s don’t want to use the command line they don’t have to. Don’t ask for it to be removed though!

By: todd

todd — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 18:39:53 +0000

Why do so many believe linux to be a sentient being with dreams of empire?

Nice response; alienating users is no way to expand the base.