Peter; The questions you answered from my previous post were meant as
rhetorical ones, but well done. I wasn't expecting answers! However, I'm
still hoping that Linux will become considerably more popular to the masses,
and I see easy-to-use-and-install packages as one of the ways that the
appeal of Linux can be greatly enhanced. Thanks for your comments.
Dan LaBine
Registered Linux User #190712
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2001 7:19 PM
Subject: Re: [newbie] PMFirewall and IPchains
> --- Dan LaBine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> <snip!>
> > Why are many Linux-based programs so complicated to
> > set up?? Here we are,
> <snip!>
>
> I'm no expert but I've got a few theories for you.
>
> Theory 1:
> Hacking code is fun. Writing a polished interface
> isn't so much fun. Since most of what you use under
> Linux has been written by volunteers who're writing
> code for the love of writing code, you get software
> that is robust and powerful but lacks polish and/or
> good documentation (until someone else comes along and
> writes the latter).
>
> Theory 2:
> It's danged hard to write an 'easy-to-use' interface
> that doesn't limit access to the software in some way.
> One of my primary reasons for trying to wean myself
> off of Windows is that every version that comes out
> puts more barriers between me and the machine. More
> and more, M$ 'guesses' at what I really want to do,
> and does it. If it guesses wrong, I have to recourse.
> I'll project my annoyance with this onto the Linux
> community in general (who, from what I've seen, really
> enjoy having full control of the OS) and guess that
> the people who write this software are loathe to do
> anything that might limit what you can do with it in
> any way.
>
> Now, a comment... things surely are getting better.
> I'm in my 3rd or 4th attempt at becoming a full time
> Linux user. The first time I tried was with RedHat 5,
> iirc, and it was a huge challenge to get that
> installed. Compare that installation to the one in
> Mandrake 7.2 and there's an amazing improvement in
> ease-of-use.
>
> If/when Linux starts to make real in-roads into the
> desktop space, there'll be commercial incentive to pay
> people to craft nice interfaces to existing
> utilities... until then we'll have to make do, or
> develop the coding skills needed to create nice
> interfaces and build 'wrappers' for powerful but
> unwieldy utilities...
>
> All the above is just my opinion, of course, and be
> aware that I am NOT a hard-core linux geek (yet). I'm
> trying to get there, though... every time I boot
> Windows these days, I feel a sense of defeat... I'll
> get there!
>
> =====
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Peter Smith, Cambridge, MA, USA
> Various bookmarks => http://people.ne.mediaone.net/jaded
> Chat about games, movies and tv => http://jadedspub.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "They were playing Wagner. It's the most fun I've had in about six
months" -Tyr Anasazi
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail.
> http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
>
