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From: bobh@wasatch.com (Bob Hauck)
Newsgroups: alt.os.linux,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: Re: Linux or FreeBSD (or something else?)
Date: 6 Apr 1997 04:22:38 GMT
Organization: Wasatch Communications
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Message-ID: <5i78ee$bcs@twin.wasatch.com>
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In article <5i3f1a$nc5@hermes.synopsys.com>,
jbuck@synopsys.com (Joe Buck) writes:
> lcappite@sprynet.com (Goatboy) writes:
>>> 2) MS has made computing easier. To install a prog in win95, u insert
>
> bobh@wasatch.com (Bob Hauck) writes:
>>They have made it appear easier when the new user is trying to do
>>something trivial. A pleasant "out of box" experience. They have
>>made it hopelessly obscure when it comes to doing difficult things or
>>trying to troubleshoot problems.
> There's no reason Linux can't have configuration utilities as easy to
> use as Windows 95 or the Mac. It doesn't conflict with the underlying
> OS, it's just a cleaner interface.
Ok, I wasn't going to post to this thread any more, but I have to
comment on this.
Basically, I don't think the "Microsoft" (or Mac) way is "cleaner".
It is easier to learn, that is true. But it gets in the way bigtime
when things aren't working right.
Win95 is damn difficult to fix when it breaks, especially if you are
not sitting in front of the machine and have to lead an inexperienced
user through the process. Click-click-click you go through layers of
worthless dialog boxes and the user invariably gets confused and you
end up going off into some irrelevant place where you have to start
over again.
There is no easy way to go directly to the source of the problem.
Often, you know what the problem is but you can't get there from here.
The whole process is just so slow and error-prone that it's laughable.
It was /far/ easier to just have your user load up Notepad and load an
INI file from the File menu.
IMHO, this is one of the biggest weaknesses of NT as a server. It
is configured through the same point-and-drool interface as a client,
yet there is much more complexity. So you a) are required to have
a GUI on a server that probably doesn't need one; and b) force the
experienced admin to slog through a bunch of dialogs that he does
not need. IOW, for the experienced admin, I'm convinced that a GUI
interface is _less_ efficient, not more.
The grain of truth in what you're saying is that if Linux had some
nice GUI configuration utilities it would be more approachable for
newbies. I'm all for that, and several groups are working on it
(e.g. the Control Panel in Red Hat). Just don't take away the text
configuration option! Anybody who suggests building a Registry for
Linux should be shot.
---
Bob Hauck bobh@wasatch.com
Wasatch Communications Group http://www.wasatch.com