Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 18th May 2009 19:06 UTC
We all know them. We all hate them. They are generally overdone, completely biased, or so vague they border on the edge of pointlessness (or toppled over said edge). Yes, I'm talking about those "Is Linux ready for the desktop" articles. Still, this one is different.
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RE[2]: Then why shouldn't write a new one?
by lemur2 on Tue 19th May 2009 05:01
in reply to "RE: Then why shouldn't write a new one?"
Member since:2007-02-17
When you do go to the shell to do something, and --help or 'man xxx' to see the syntax, you get a page of flags when almost every single person checking --help needs exactly the same couple of flags.
It would take a new user (ie. someone who forgot the command) several minutes to figure out "tar -xzvf file.tar.gz" with man pages or --help.
I have read thousands of Linux related documentation and I am Linux certified, but I only ever use it every several months and I have to Google simple command line tasks like extracting a compressed file because the help files are like reading an instruction manual.
I'm a grown up now. I don't have as much time to play with toys as I used to.
It would take a new user (ie. someone who forgot the command) several minutes to figure out "tar -xzvf file.tar.gz" with man pages or --help.
I have read thousands of Linux related documentation and I am Linux certified, but I only ever use it every several months and I have to Google simple command line tasks like extracting a compressed file because the help files are like reading an instruction manual.
I'm a grown up now. I don't have as much time to play with toys as I used to.
Oh for goodness sake. If you don't have the time or inclination to use the command line, then don't.
For your example of "tar -xzvf file.tar.gz" then just use one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_(computing)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PeaZip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Roller
and be done with it, and stop trying to come up with made-up complaints about Linux.
RE[3]: Then why shouldn't write a new one?
by Tsukasa on Tue 19th May 2009 09:12
in reply to "RE[2]: Then why shouldn't write a new one?"
Member since:2006-05-15
I think it'd be smarter not to throw some random tools in the room and say "there you go" but to define a nice alias in the profile, let's say... untar for "tar xvzf". At least that works on commandline as well...
All this GUI and whatnot... just a passing trend, I say! 
Member since:
2006-05-12
The main problem with your suggestion is that this could be built on top of Linux and the app store was kind of done by Lindows/Linspire.
The biggest problem I have with Linux (as a desktop) is that it is design by committee and too many people have entirely different ideas for the operating system so there is never a clear direction to move in.
You have tons of people who have their own idea of what the system should be to succeed on the desktop and most of them are wrong.
His list was decent and I have a few of my own.
people have this idea that the Linux user never has to go deeper than the UI, and this is just wrong.
When you do go to the shell to do something, and --help or 'man xxx' to see the syntax, you get a page of flags when almost every single person checking --help needs exactly the same couple of flags.
It would take a new user (ie. someone who forgot the command) several minutes to figure out "tar -xzvf file.tar.gz" with man pages or --help.
I have read thousands of Linux related documentation and I am Linux certified, but I only ever use it every several months and I have to Google simple command line tasks like extracting a compressed file because the help files are like reading an instruction manual.
I'm a grown up now. I don't have as much time to play with toys as I used to.