Do we need to make Linux (etc.) more non-geek friendly?

hacker supreme · 05-03-2007, 04:27 PM

Reading about a certain event concerning the town of Tuttle.

I am wondering if this could have been avoided if the default page was a little friendly to those without any computer experience.

http://mirror.centos.org/mirrorscripts/noindex_new.html
I mean, if I was almost completely computer illiterate that page would scare me.

Maybe it needs to be changed slightly to accommodate the fact that more and more people are seeing OSS, which still seems to be aimed more at geeks and those who have an idea what they're doing.

(Yes, I know the guy could have been a little calmer and friendly. Kudos to the poor guy who had to deal with that.)

So, does anyone else think that *nix , etc. software could be made slightly more friendly to those without the experience. Or am I just going soft?

shambler · 05-03-2007, 06:56 PM

A page very much like that appears if you install Apache on Winders. Would that have made a difference?
It's not unfriendly, except to tech-illiterates and city managers. Maybe if he'd called IT and asked...
No, much better to running circles waving your arms - better for the press that is.

BTW, a link to the story:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/tuttle_centos/

Pretty funny, really.

masonm · 05-03-2007, 07:01 PM

I fail to see the problem with that page. It seems perfectly fine to me.

As for whether or not "we" (whoever that is) needs to make things more user friendly, that depends upon what "we's" goals are.

If "we" wants to aim for the newbie or less tech savvy public, then 'we" needs to design their OS and software accordingly. If "we" are aiming for the more geeky among us, then it isn't an issue and "we" couldn't care less about dumbing things down.

I would venture to say that the current state of distros available pretty well covers that spectrum already.

What was the question again? "We" forgot.

hollywoodb · 05-03-2007, 07:35 PM

Linux does NOT need to become more "friendly". Linux is bigger in the server market than it is on the desktop, and in the server market friendliness is no substitute for scalability and advanced configuration options.

Now desktop-centric things such as Gnome, KDE, GUI package managers, etc etc... Sure, some of those could be more "friendly".

BTW, Apache has little to do with GNU/Linux other than the fact that it runs on it, among other platforms.

rob.rice · 05-03-2007, 07:38 PM

most windbloz users do not work on there systems any way
almost all windbloz users don't know a bit from a byte
why should linux be dumbed down to the levle where some
one who dose know what they are doing with a system has to
crawl through miles of lizards to do what could be done
with just a few commands as things stand now

the simple answer isn't just NO it's
HELL NO!!!

thank god that the nix system programmers
use the systems they program for

phantom_cyph · 05-03-2007, 07:40 PM

If they take Linux away from geeks-what will we have to be unique? ;-)

hollywoodb · 05-03-2007, 11:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phantom_cyph

If they take Linux away from geeks-what will we have to be unique? ;-)

*BSD, Plan9, MenuetOS, HaikuOS; oh we can be as unique as we want to be. Practicality is just a technicality

alred · 05-04-2007, 12:25 AM

one word ... linux is not for geeks ... linux have made things so much easier for everyone ... i donno what will happen if there are no linux ...

.

hacker supreme · 05-04-2007, 02:10 AM

OK, OK. It was a daft question anyway...

alred · 05-04-2007, 02:27 AM

should try those perfectly and thoroughly senseless rabbit systems ...

so , you are asking me to learn something seriously ... ??

//you must be joking ...

.

brianL · 05-04-2007, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rob.rice

most windbloz users do not work on there systems any way
almost all windbloz users don't know a bit from a byte
why should linux be dumbed down to the levle where some
one who dose know what they are doing with a system has to
crawl through miles of lizards to do what could be done
with just a few commands as things stand now

the simple answer isn't just NO it's
HELL NO!!!

thank god that the nix system programmers
use the systems they program for

Crawl through miles of lizards???????????
Who do you think I am? Indiana Jones?

StarsAndBars14 · 05-04-2007, 01:14 PM

I wouldn't concern myself with that too much. There are already systems like Ubuntu and Fedora.

taylor_venable · 05-04-2007, 03:03 PM

There's so much talk lately about making Linux easier for people who don't want to learn Linux. As always, you only get the maximum use out of something if you truly learn it. What do you get out of vi if you only know "i" and ":wq" ? Or Emacs if you don't read the manual? Nothing more than Notepad, really. If you want Notepad, that's fine; but some of us want more, and don't mind terribly working to get it. I just hope the technical people aren't losing their edge in light of all the "user-friendliness" discussions. (I know they aren't - they're just not as loud as everybody else.)

rob.rice · 05-04-2007, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Crawl through miles of lizards???????????
Who do you think I am? Indiana Jones?

In My faimly I am the only one who dose know a bit from a byte
as a result I maintane all the windbloz systems
to track down even a minor problem requars going through
(wizzard) lizzard after lizzard after lizzard after lizzard
just to see how the system is configured
when the same problem on linux could be tracked down with
just a look at the log files fixing it is an edit of a file in /etc
and rerunning a script

linux is veary user frindly
it's just pickie about who it makes frinds with

windbloz isn't user frindly it's idot frindly