On Apr 10, 4:40 pm, "William Stein" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<SNIP>
> We should make Sage as easy or easier to install than
> any of Mathematica, Maple, Matlab, or Magma.
> I see no reason to compromise on this at all, since the
> goal is to provide a viable alternative to Mathematica,
> Maple, Matlab, and Magma. Part of this is that Sage must be
> as easy to install as those programs.
Sage *is* easy to install provided one is capable of reading and
following README.txt. All the points about computer literacy aside
[insert "when I was young I had to walk both ways to school uphill"
rant] I believe that this is a sad, sad world when somebody who is
attempting to get a college education is incapable of following a
simple README.txt. And I am not asking people to do anything hard
here, i.e. Robert's argument that people should learn mathematics
instead of CS skills does not reflect reality, but to follow an url,
download a 1MB binary and install it.
Other people in IRC have pointed out that my expectations of the
average college student seem rather high and not grounded in reality,
so I have no intention of opposing the switch to zip files for the
vmware image. But it is my understanding the people at a University
are supposed to acquire the skills to solve problems, i.e. become
capable to approach a problem they have never solved and solve it by
thinking about it. I don't want to sound like an elitist jerk [too
late I guess], but if you are foiled by a 7zip archive maybe we have a
case of PEBKAC :) [look it up if you don't know what that is ;)]
<SNIP>
> -- William
Cheers,
Michael
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