Examination of a Linux Gui, w/color commentary

John Abreau jabr at blu.org
Sat Feb 28 02:59:45 EST 2004


On Fri, 2004-02-27 at 16:54, Dana S. Tellier wrote:

> I think ESR hits the nail on the head in this
> idea of the "luxury of ignorance".  I find it wonderful that I don't need to
> know a damned thing about the inner workings of my car in order to drive it.
> And when something goes wrong, I take it to a mechanic who will fix it, and
> then promptly put it back in my hands, without my having any real clue about
> the problem or its solution.

I shouldn't need to know how to rebuild an engine in 
order to drive my car, certainly. On the other hand, it's not acceptable
for me to declare that I don't need to know about traffic lights, 
stop signs, speed limits, and which side of the road to drive on. I 
can't ignore technical knowledge on that level, and argue that I'll 
just rely on my mechanic to make sure my car obeys those things without 
my knowledge. 

The Redhat printer config tool that ESR was bitching about is truly a 
piece of crap. But the technolazy behaviors that Microsoft promotes are 
as reckless as telling drivers that the car will obey the traffic rules 
automatically. Teaching drivers that attitude would lead to these 
drivers suffering accidents every time they drive, much as teaching 
PC owners this attitude leads to them suffering crashes, blue-screens, 
and the worm-du-jour, every time they use their PCs. 

-- 
John Abreau / Executive Director, Boston Linux & Unix
Email jabr at blu.org / WWW http://www.abreau.net / PGP-Key-ID 0xD5C7B5D9
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