Date: Sat, 12 Jul 1997 20:38:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Tim Vanderhoek <hoek@hwcn.org> To: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> Cc: jonahkuo@mail.ttn.com.tw, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: My opinion about freebsd (fwd) Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.96.970712201125.6021A-100000@james.freenet.hamilton.on.ca> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.3.96.970711170623.4049A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu>
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On Sat, 12 Jul 1997, Annelise Anderson wrote: > > I'm pretty close here to talking myself into a position about > which I'm not really enthusiastic--that to run FreeBSD you need to > acquire a good deal of the knowledge of a unix professional (including > some knowledge of C) and that my hypothetical dissident in the provinces > isn't going to make it. There is nothing wrong needing to know about something in order to make it work. Consider that in order to make even a simple flower garden grow well, one must be able to describe, in general terms, how and why a plant grows. For almost any activity, one must have a general idea of what is happening, in order to make it work _consistently_ and _well_ (phones being the only exception I've though of so far). Before we judge this base amount of knowledge that one needs, let us keep in mind that most people will be using their computers every day for most of their life. I think certain things, such as shell-scripting, can be expected to be learnt. The grade 11 general computers course at my school, whose purpose is not to create programmers, computer-wizards, or anything else particularly technical except for making students who are "comfortable working with [computers]", includes a section on Basic programming. If the MS world can expect people to learn Basic, then I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to learn some C or sh. Now, I think it is important to distinguish between the knowledge needed to run and maintain a computer over the long-term, and the amount of work (and/or knowledge) needed to simply setup one's computer and perform basic tasks. Again, an analogy. To initially use a fridge, it is not necessary to know how it makes itself cool inside. That knowledge only becomes necessary over a longer period of time (you may be questioning why one would need to know it at all (a reasonable question). Suppose your air-conditioner broke-down. Because of you understanding of how your fridge works, you will be smart enough _not_ to leave the fridge-door open and hope that cools the house instead). I'm not so fool as to argue that these two different things (setup difficulty and longterm working knowledge) can be completely separated, but I would suggest they a basis for at least _some_ differentiation. I think you were trying to address both in your message. Setup should be simple. Working knowledge should be taught; not be eliminated. -- Outnumbered? Maybe. Outspoken? Never! tIM...HOEk
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