----- Original Message -----
From: "Colm Brazel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 4:33 PM
Subject: Re: command line open source ARRRGGGGGG!!!!!!
> > Open source software is written by technical people. They do it because
> > they enjoy it. Most of them don't get paid for it.
> >
> > Many technical people don't enjoy writing documentation at all, and
> > _very_ few enjoy writing documentation at the "complete newbie" level.
>
> Hi,
>
> The maxim should be that no one should mind a difficult concept well
> explained. But everybody should mind
> a simple concept made difficult because it is poorly explained. A poor
> explanation is one that is not intelligible
> by a newbie not because it is difficult, but because it is poorly
explained
> in terms easily understood by a newbie.
>
> Colm
>
> Colm Brazel (MA)
> CB Publications
> www.cbweb.net
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul D. Smith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Chadrick Mahaffey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: "mysql" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Friday, September 07, 2001 2:50 PM
> Subject: Re: command line open source ARRRGGGGGG!!!!!!
>
>
> > %% Chadrick Mahaffey <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >
> > cm> How do I start the server and create a database in plain English.
> I'm not
> > cm> familiar with:
> > cm> SECTION 4.16 ----- Documentation
> >
> > shell> ./scripts/mysql_install_db
> > shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
> > shell> ./bin/safe_mysqld --user=mysql &
> >
> > shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
> > shell> ./bin/mysql_install_db
> > shell> ./bin/safe_mysqld --user=mysql &
> >
> > cm> what does all this mean?
> >
> > These are the commands and instructions for installing MySQL on a UNIX
> > box. They are UNIX shell commands, not Windows DOS commands.
> >
> > You need to find the commands and instructions for installing MySQL on a
> > Windows box, if that's what you are using.
> >
> > cm> Open source would go much farther if they had self explanatory
> > cm> GUIs and had basic pre-setup apps that were ready for the average
> > cm> user to use. I program in Java and I feel the same about the JDK
> > cm> Sun produces. I use JCreator because it has an easy to follow GUI
> > cm> interface. Most open source apps I have attempted to use have some
> > cm> of the worse documentation around. The writers assume so much
> > cm> about the users. OK - call me inept, stupid, or whatever but I had
> > cm> to say it.
> >
> > Open source software is written by technical people. They do it because
> > they enjoy it. Most of them don't get paid for it.
> >
> > Many technical people don't enjoy writing documentation at all, and
> > _very_ few enjoy writing documentation at the "complete newbie" level.
> > If they don't enjoy it, they aren't going to do it for fun. If someone
> > who _did_ enjoy it were to volunteer to help, well, that would be great.
> >
> > Further, you are working on a Windows platform. Microsoft has, at
> > almost every turn, expressed its deep-seated hostility for Open Source
> > software of all kinds, and even the very idea of OS software. Also,
> > many developers, esp. those doing OS software which has a very
> > UNIX-based ancestry, don't _like_ working on Windows, as they don't
> > think it's a good platform either to use or develop on. So, naturally
> > enough you won't find all that many Open Source developers who are very
> > interested in expending a lot of effort to keep people who use Windows
> > happy. They don't want to _encourage_ people to use an environment that
> > is so hostile to the things they like to do, and they don't like using
> > Windows themselves. So, I doubt you'll see a big effort expended on the
> > part of OS developers to make the Windows-specific parts of their
> > software simpler.
> >
> > There are, obviously, some well-known exceptions like the
> > StarOffice/OpenOffice folks, Emacs, Apache, etc. who do spend a lot of
> > effort trying to get Windows versions easier to use and install.
> >
> >
> > If you wanted to buy a support license for MySQL, I'm sure they'd help
> > you get it installed properly. If you want to use the free version and
> > you want to use it on Windows, then, for better or for worse, you're
> > going to have to get used to life on a second-tier platform :(.
> >
> > --
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Paul D. Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> HASMAT--HA Software Mthds &
> Tools
> > "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad
> Scientist
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > These are my opinions---Nortel Networks takes no responsibility for
> them.
> >
> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
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