| Keep it simple . . . and keep it GUI |
A guest column by 'Crashdamage' (Nov. 20, 2001) . . .
This article original appeared in the DesktopLinux.com discussion forum, posted by "Crashdamage" . . .
As a Linux newbie (just a few months) I just found this site. Hopefully, this site will help to make Linux easy for anyone using a computer. Because that's what Linux has to do to make progress against Windoze - to be taken seriously as a everyday, everybody desktop.
To be clear from the start, I don't have a problem with the concept of using the command line, except that I'm no good at it. If you're seriously into computers and not just a casual user like most people, the Linux command line is amazing.
But the only way Linux will ever become popular as an operating system for ordinary people is to do it the same way Apple and Microsoft did - through the GUI interface. Blasphemy to the Linux hardcore I know, but let's face it, that's what made first the Mac, then Windows, so successful and what made computers and the Internet accessable to everyone. Linux developers and users simply have to get away from command line thinking and think about how to make things work for people who don't know a command line from a chorus line.
And, I'll admit that for the most part I'm one of them. I'm typical of 99% of people who would like to make the change to Linux. I use a GUI interface for nearly everything. I've forgotten most of the DOS commands I knew from back in the days when DOS 5 and a 286 were king. I remember when the Internet was text only. But I don't miss those days a bit. And I don't have the time or honestly, the inclination to learn Linux commands, at least not enough to make me a for-real command line kinda guy.
99% of potential Linux converts don't want to ever have to compile anything or try to satisfy a long list of dependencies from a software upgrade. They just want to load the software or plug in a device and go, and if they can't, they won't use Linux, simple as that. If Grandpa takes my advice to try Linux, he's gonna want it to be as easy, or easier, than Windows to install hardware, software, and get running or he's ticked off at me. And he doesn't want to go to a manual or website help page and find that to solve his problem he needs to grep this, chown that, or compile anything. He wants to see an answer to his problem like he might find on Microsoft's website, where everyone is assumed to know nothing of commands and problems are solved from the GUI.
As for me, I've made the change to Linux permanently and think it's great. Ok,ok, I've learned a few commands. But I still wanna use a GUI, even if it is slower. Obviously, Linux has come a long, long way from a couple of years ago when I first looked into it as a Windows replacement. I'm certainly no programmer, so I can't contribute to any open-source projuects. But I will contuinue to support Linux the best way I know how - by using it, telling others, and putting my money behind it when I choose hardware or software. Linux doesn't have to be free - free is good, but I've paid for a lot of Windows software over the years, and I paid for my boxed copy of Mandrake 8.0, VMware, Opera, and more. Windows users have shown they are willing to pay for software that barely works, so they would certainly pay for Linux software that REALLY works!
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