Tocayo, You seem to be missing my point. This is not about me but about people I know who are potential users and might think the "linux newbies" is simply what it implies. It isn't. It might as well be called "linux newbie admins/developers" since that, up to recently, is what your typical Linux user was/is.
On the other hand. There have been recent gains in the Desktop Linux effort which has made Linux an OS for ordinary people who may think that DNS is something to do with bio-technology. On 3/25/03 5:55 AM, "Rick Moen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Quoting Muddy Banks ([EMAIL PROTECTED]): > >> Not necessarily. In a corporate environment, it is normal for your average >> user to completely clueless about the workings of the OS. > > Is that the case with you? If so, then indeed you should direct to your > IT / MIS Department any questions like "How do I play an mp3". No its not the case with me. I'm a guru. But most of my colleagues at work are only dimly aware that they are running W2K and launch MS Office and Outlook for 99% of their work. Occasionally, they will use their PC's for non-work related activities like playing AVSEQ01 on WMP. They can do this because help is often just a holler away and don't need a command prompt in order to execute this. If any colleague needs help with the OS on questions like "how do I play and MP3?" they simply ask a neighbor who may be a little more knowledgeable about such matters, who is also not a sys admin/MIS guru. In short, they do not need a newbie forum since many users around them have already attained a level of knowledge about common day-to-day usage problems. Since Linux expertise is still relatively thin among casual users, there is a need for a forum to address the average person's issues that, more often than not, are non-sysadmin related. These users will never need to know what a mail server is other than the fact that is has something to do with their Internet Settings. If forced to use a CLI, they would honestly try their best and t y p e v e r y s l o w l y, not knowing the full implication of what is being done but trust the instructions to be correct. > > If not, like it or not, you're a sysadmin. Welcome to the club. > Thanks. I actually joined the club long ago developing applications on a PDP11 in 1978. I am no longer interested in actually doing so for a living but invariably have to take on the role of SysAdmin at home. At work, I happily leave that task to others. > I'm sorry you don't like your command shell. Feel free to ignore any > efforts I might make to help you solve problems, that would likely > involve its usage. No that your efforts go unappreciated, but do you automatically try to solve problems by running the shell or do you look for a friendlier GUI approach to the problem? The GUI level is frequently the only one that makes sense to the casual user. I like bash just fine thank you. I've also had to wrestle with RDOS, AOS, DOS and and a bunch of other CLI's over the years. Bash is certainly the friendliest CLI I've ever used. On the other hand my wife has no idea what the heck a command shell is and she is a happy enough user not to need one since her MIS department comes home invariably once its dark. She doesn't subscribe to the newbie list although she is aware of its existence. That she doesn't is simply a reflection of the fact that 99% of the questions are of no interest to her. And It's easy to say "just ignore the questions you aren't interested in" but since most of the posted discussions are might as well be about nuclear physics, it's easy for the average user to become disinterested. Shouldn't there be a forum for people who are interested in using the Linux but have absolutely no interest in 99% of the questions in the newbie list but may be interested other aspects of the OS? Without such a forum, Linux advocacy among non-technical users will remain compromised. And until the day comes when a guru is just a holler away, a forum is frequently the only recourse to non-admin newbies. Ricky Munoz _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
