Linked by Thom Holwerda on Thu 16th Mar 2006 22:24 UTC, submitted by Valour
General Development "There are several possible reasons why you might choose to use the command line interface as your desktop environment. For one thing, it uses less electricity, so you could maximize battery life on your laptop computer. Secondly, it forces you to think about your operating system and directory structure in a totally different way than a GUI does; this could greatly enhance your understanding of GNU/Linux and cause you to be more creative in your technological problem solving. And thirdly, everyone will think you're a supreme computer genius for ditching X11 for the CLI. People passing by your desk will think you're some kind of computer god. Who doesn't want that?"
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RE[2]: One question (GUIs SUCK!)
by bytecoder on Fri 17th Mar 2006 00:34 UTC in reply to "RE: One question (GUIs SUCK!)"
bytecoder
Member since:
2005-11-27

That doesn't make any sense... Read my above post.

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Mystilleef Member since:
2005-06-29

Yours don't make sense either.

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rajj Member since:
2005-07-06

I think the fundamental problem here is that nobody can agree on what a GUI is.

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bytecoder Member since:
2005-11-27

Let me elaborate, then. GUIs and CLIs are both general concepts. What you're trying to do is use two implementations of said interfaces to prove that one is better than the other; this is like saying electric cars are faster than cars running on gas by comparing a brand new electric car with a model T Ford. The only way to compare those two concepts is in theoretical terms, unlike what you did. A GUI has more potential to be more efficient to use than a CLI because it has all the possible input and output mechanisms of a CLI and more. To get truly technical, using a mouse requires far less cognitive load than typing in commands from memory, and is much better suited to most tasks; unlike CLIs, however, a GUI has the possibility to use both the mouse and keyboard.

Note: GUI = 2d "graphical" UI with mouse and keyboard. Yes, curses apps technically count as a GUI under this definition, but curses apps aren't really completely CLI.

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