Blame it on the CLI
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| Author | Content |
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| r_a_trip Sep 16, 2010 7:02 AM EDT |
It's usually a self-teaching process, in which everyone can trace the curve at the pace that suits them best. I think this is the most valuable sentence in the whole article. Ultimately, everybody is responsible for their own computer and the skillset they do (or do not) develop. That involves asking a LOT of questions, because Linux evolves so fast that it's impossible for documentation in print media to catch up. This is a load of hogwash. I learned my Linux with books and magazines in print between 1998 and 2001, and online till this day. I refuse to believe that this isn't possible anymore today. Occasionally someone replies to an obvious beginner question with a torrent of commands intended to impress the questioner with how complicated Linux really is and, by implication, how wise the answerer is. A blanket statement and one that accuses of ill intent. I'd like to know what the difficulty of the problem is before accusing the person solving it of CLI grandstanding. Just because a beginner asks a question, it doesn't automatically follow that the problem is trivial or best solved through the GUI. More often than not, such an answer is accompanied by a contemptuous remark. Haven't seen this in a long time. The days of RTFM are over. The deeper problem is that most newcomers to Linux are well aware they face a lot of learning and effort, but they accept it for the chance to work with the system. When the wish to learn Linux, and use it seriously, is really there, a newbie won't drop Linux at the first sight of an idiot answer. I've seen the opposite too. Newbies who think that by the grace of having decided to install Linux that they are now entitled to abuse every single Linux using peer as their unpaid 24/7 computing helpdesk / computing serf. I wouldn't blame a newcomer for saying, "Why go to the trouble of learning something that's used by a bunch of jerks?" If the usergroup is the overal determining factor to use Linux, why look at Linux in the first place? It looks like technical matters are not the issue in that case. Why go through the trouble at all? If one abbrasive encounter is enough to make you decide to use what you used previously, you don't have pressing reasons to use Linux. In the end it seems to come down to one answer (deemed elitist and condescending, but I couldn't find it and check) in the Peppermint forums, which then is trotted around as proof that new users are chased away by the CLI bastards. It is irksome that the CLI is constantly smeared. Not every help involving the CLI is made with the malevolent intent of chasing users away. For all practical intents and purposes, ALL OS's have their advanced trickery, be it Windows (cmd.exe + regedit.exe anyone?) or OS X, etc. Sometimes a quick pasteable command string is the best way to get someone back on track. Not everything is doable via GUI. Plus that these days everybody seems to ignore the big elephant in the room, called MS which still stacks the deck against Linux preloading. Which is why Linux isn't making sizeable inroads on the consumer desktop market. |
| ComputerBob Sep 16, 2010 11:24 AM EDT |
Quoting:More often than not, such an answer is accompanied by a contemptuous remark.You must have missed the recent discussion here about the Debian support forum. ;) |
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