Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 09:22:35 +0100 (CET) From: Nils Holland <nils@tisys.org> To: Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, Paul Robinson <paul@akita.co.uk>, "Andrew C. Hornback" <achornback@worldnet.att.net>, <chat@FreeBSD.ORG>, <advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: RE: NatWest? no thanks Message-ID: <20011102090253.G795-100000@jodie.ncptiddische.net> In-Reply-To: <003a01c16368$67667100$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
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On Thu, 1 Nov 2001, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > Look at DNS - under Microsoft it's a simple GUI that has few > selections available and doesen't let the user do much. Under UNIX > it's a config file that can be written in shorthand, longhand, or a > mix and you can imagine that a typical dumb user support call on a DNS > zone file problem would probably chew up 5 times the amount of support > time for UNIX as the platform vs NT. That's a huge phone bank staffed > with people that need to feed themselves and free software doesen't > have the revenue stream to support an entire industry of people that > do nothing other than read the instructions to morons who pick up the > phone and call instead of cracking the instruction manual. That's something that has changed in the industry, and I don't know if it's too good. I mean: When computers were not present in every home, and only real hackers had access to them or even owned one, the world worked much better. I real hacker basically didn't use the computer because he wants to store his recipies in there, but, basically, he uses the computer for the sake that it's a computer. This has changed today, and it seems that the majority of people is unable to learn. I mean, I used a Commodore 64 (originally 1 Mhz, 64 KB RAM, but can be powered up to 20 Mhz, 4 or more MB and even a harddisk) until 1995. When I bought my first PC thereafter, I almost instantly started out in FreeBSD. Back then, I didn't know anything about Unix, but by reading all kinds of things, and by using my beloved trial-and-error approach, I managed to learn the basics rather soon, and by now I think I'm fairly good at it. This kind of learning has always been required when it comes to computers - again, on the Commodore 64, you got a 100 pages handbook which didn't tell you much, and then you had to figure out the rest yourself, which could best be done by buying another, more in-depth book. Looking at Microsoft OSes today, I guess they can be used by almost everyone without much learning. If you set up a FreeBSD box with KDE this is also true for FreeBSD. HOWEVER - make no mistake about it - even though it is possible to start using a system without much learning, which is probably a good thing, there *will always* be learning required if you want to use advanced features. You can use a computer without reading any documentation, but I guess you will have to read it in order to be able to use the computer really effectively. As I said, in the past, computer users were more ready to learn, and I think that made computer users all in all more knowledgable. Today, they want everything to be shoved up their *ss. If that will indeed be good for them in the end can actually be doubted. Greetings Nils Nils Holland Ti Systems - FreeBSD in Tiddische, Germany http://www.tisys.org * nils@tisys.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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