From owner-freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Oct 28 09:12:50 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 37A7B16A4CE for ; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:12:50 -0800 (PST) Received: from lilzmailfe02.liwest.at (lilzmailfe02.liwest.at [212.33.55.14]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6409C43FB1 for ; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 09:12:47 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dgw@liwest.at) Received: from cm58-27.liwest.at ([212.33.58.27]) by lilzmailfe02.liwest.at with esmtp (Exim 4.14) id 1AEXOf-0002Me-8K; Tue, 28 Oct 2003 18:12:45 +0100 From: Daniela To: "Devon H. O'Dell" , freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 18:08:47 +0000 User-Agent: KMail/1.5.3 References: <3F9E8659.9040102@sitetronics.com> In-Reply-To: <3F9E8659.9040102@sitetronics.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline Message-Id: <200310281808.47924.dgw@liwest.at> Subject: Re: Friendly and Secure Desktop Operating System X-BeenThere: freebsd-advocacy@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: FreeBSD Evangelism List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 28 Oct 2003 17:12:50 -0000 On Tuesday 28 October 2003 15:08, Devon H. O'Dell wrote: > Another problem is that with the 'stupid user' model that's mentioned in > the article, the OS has to handle things that should be decided by the > user. You get into the question of where to stop trying to save the user > from him/herself and where to let the user make decisions. Again, this > is a problem that *application* developers need to address, not > operating system developers. Question: What makes the user stupid? Answer: An environment that hides details and doesn't force the users to know a little bit of the thing they're working with. Call me paranoid, but I think this "over-userfriendlyness" is quite dangerous. We'll end in an environment where we don't understand anything, and a few companies control our lives. This might seem farfetched, but we are slowly walking in this direction. Think about it: No knowledge - no control. And users are accepting it. They are just lazy and want everything to be done for them, even if this means they have to give up freedom. BTW, I think this user-friendly desktop should only be an optional and easily exchangeable frontend to the "real thing". Daniela