Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 26 Jul 1999 18:47:27 +1000
From:      Jim Mock <jim@blues.ghis.net>
To:        Radu-Cristian FOTESCU <rfotescu@idsrom.com>
Cc:        advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: What to tell to Linux-centric people?!
Message-ID:  <19990726184727.A8664@blues.ghis.net>
In-Reply-To: <C1F3617BDC52D21185E40000214C247C154053@id-bucharest.idsrom.com>
References:  <C1F3617BDC52D21185E40000214C247C154053@id-bucharest.idsrom.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, 26 Jul 1999 at 10:40:44 +0300, Radu-Cristian FOTESCU wrote:
> > I agree. color ls is totally lame and I think you can get it
> > running on freebsd but..why? I guess I must be the old one, not
> > the OS... To each their own, but in my opinion a new install
> > should never default to 'bells and whistles' mode as it assumes to
> > much on the part of the end user hardware configs.
> 
> It is _NOT_ a "too much assumption on end user hardware configs" to
> assume it has a color-able terminal, in order to see "ls-color"
> running!
> 
> And... it's too bad FreeBSD community is _that_ conservative and
> doesn't make a 5-minute change in installation's _DEFAULTS_ that
> could attract 50% of Linux community to FreeBSD!

Ok, this is just total crap.  First of all, doing it your way forces
*everyone* to use it.  Right now, nothing is stopping users from
installing it if they want it.. it doesn't take a whole hell of alot
of effort to install a port.

As for the second part, if people are gonna switch from Linux for the
sake of color ls, then they've got problems, not to mention if that's 
the only reason why they'd switch, Linux can have 'em.. we don't want 
'em.  Making such a statement does nothing but make you look like an
ass.

> I saw that stupid "ls-NONcolour" default on RedHat3.0.3 [I was 
> coming from Slackware 3.0 at the time] and I fixed it in 3 minutes,
> but I'm still wondering: why should 90% of users being _forced_ to
> do this?

How are they being forced?  No one is *making* them use color ls.  Is
it our fault they like it?

<sarcasm>
Oh, wait, I think I remember seeing a picture of jkh at a 'Geeks with
Guns' meeting holding a gun to someone's head and forcing them to use
a non-color ls.  Shock horror.  You're right, we should do everything
the Linux way, we'd be much better off.
</sarcasm>

> Or... are you assuming that a Hercules card is the most usual today?
> Or an antique VT unable to display colour?

No, we're assuming people are smart enough to figure out permissions
by looking at them instead of needing to see them in a different
color.

> I am too a little "old" in thoughts, so I NEVER USE MIDNIGHT
> COMMANDER! 
> 
> Should we also suppose that the fact the user MAY want to install X
> is a "too much assumption"? So, whay don't we take out this from the
> installation procedure, and force the user to search for
> himself/herself for that?

Give it up, you're just digging your hole deeper.  At least use a
comparison that's even a *little reasonable.

-- 
- Jim Mock - jim@blues.ghis.net - systems administrator - ghis.NET -
- work: http://www.ghis.net/ - personal: http://www.ghis.net/~jim/ -
- FreeBSD 'zine: http://www.freebsdzine.org/ - jim@freebsdzine.org -
- FreeBSD: http://advocacy.freebsd.org/ - jim@advocacy.FreeBSD.org -


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?19990726184727.A8664>