Re: [Trisquel-users] Helping new users choose application software

[lynx]

I don't feel the analogy is apt.  For many people, computers are simply a  
means to an end, perhaps even a necessary evil in their lives--certainly not  
an instrument they aspire to gain proficiency in using for personal pleasure  
or to creatively express themselves (e.g., a guitar).  Some of the smartest  
people I know are barely computer literate.  And I think the argument between  
GUI and CLI is especially moot when using Ubuntu and its derivatives (e.g.,  
Trisquel) in the 21st century.  These distributions are geared to be  
relatively accessible to folks whose technical aptitude and available time  
for learning their way around a more "traditional" Linux system is strapped.   
Using Trisquel today is not like using Slackware in 1996, for example.  Yet  
strangely, a lot of the rhetoric about CLI use seems not to have changed much  
despite the knowledge barrier for "entry" in today's Linux world is *much*  
lower than it was.

As a related aside, I feel the success of Tails (https://tails.boum.org/) is  
not simply because the project developers are very competent, but also  
because they have an innate understanding of who they are making Tails for.   
They don't make their users undergo imagined rites of passage just to retain  
their anonymity.  Instead, the idea was that the special features of Tails  
should be employed transparently so users can take advantage of their  
benefits with very little special knowledge.