Re: [tdf-discuss] Request: Installation Instructions

On 22/11/10 17:50, Rene Engelhard wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 22, 2010 at 03:52:41PM +0000, Lee Hyde wrote:
> Nonsense. dpkg -i *.deb is user friendly, despite what you want to claim.
> That graphical tools might make it difficult is no argument.
It is obvious that the dpkg method described is a more involved
proceedure than a meta-package or installation script. Like it or not
Rene the icon metaphor is the predominant UI paradigm in modern
operating systems. That may one day change, but I cannot see the command
line supplanting it.

On 22/11/10 17:50, Rene Engelhard wrote:
> If those end users don't think, yes, you're right.

I was not aware of the aforementioned dpkg method myself, and trust me
I'm no fool I'm simply not familiar with all of the ins and outs of the
linux command line. Nor do I have the time and/or inclination to do so
for such a trivial use-case as software installation.

On 22/11/10 17:50, Rene Engelhard wrote:
> No, my position taken to the logical conclusion would not be that (as I think
> there's use cases for GUIs - I didn't say anything against them here but just
> mentioned that dpkg is basics - we don't need GUIs but that we need a "drivers license"
> for computers. Mandatory for everyone who wants to use PCs.
>
> The same as if you would not be allowed to drive a car if you don't know where
> the steering wheel or the gas pedal is, neither would you be allowed to use a gear car
> when you only know automatic.
>
> Learn basics, or live with people telling you that you need to look at basics before
> you do stuff.

This is an absolutely horrendous view to hold! Such patronising views
only serve to hold back the FOSS community. Strange as it may seem to
you Rene, many are intimedated by the command line. They shouldn't be,
but they are, and your above comments will do nothing to assuage such
end-users. In fact there more likely to turn back to Windows or MacOSX
than adapt to your way of thinking/doing. Some of us like our icon
metaphors and prefer our double-click > install to your open terminal >
navigate to directory > dpkg -i *.deb.

Also, The reason that people are required to qualify for a driving
license before driving a car is that behind the wheel of a car a bad
driver can easily kill a fellow road-user/cyclist/pedestrian. Now unless
the 1980s film 'War Games' was an accurate representation of computing
the same cannot be said of a technophobic office worker, in fact if
anything they be better off staying well clear of the command line.

I'm afraid that your patronizing 'get orf my land you idiot' mentality
will serve only to exclude the vast majority of end-users, as it has in
the past, and without a significant user base LibreOffice will
degenerate into little more than a hobby project and rightly so (if it
chooses to alienate the majority of computer users instead of embrace them).

-- 
"Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders turn cruel."

        -- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara


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