MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-07-02 |
| FROM | Adam Kosmin
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] letter to Mandrake - edit 1
|
My name is Michael L. Richardson, I am currently serving as President of
NYLXS INC., which has been established to promote Free Software in the
New York area. Over the years, I have personally enjoyed using several
versions of your wonderful distribution. However, I can not help but
take exception to a phrase taken from section IV.11 of the User Guide
for version 9.1 which states: "notably by avoiding use of the evil
command line".
Section IV.11 provides an introduction to Mandrake control center and
describes DrakConf with the following language:
"Mandrake Control Center is Mandrake Linux's main configuration tool. It
enables the system administrator to configure the hardware and the
services used for all users. The tools accessible through the Mandrake
Control Center greatly simplify the use of the system, notably by
avoiding the use of the evil command line."
As stated earlier, I take exception to the phrase "notably by avoiding
use of the evil command line" for several reasons. For starters, any
competent GNU/Linux System Administrator knows that the real power of the
operating system can be leveraged best from the command line. The
reasons for this go back to the modular philosophy of UNIX which allows
small and efficient tools to be strung together to create powerful new
work flows that are only limited by creativity and ingenuity of the
user. Furthermore, I believe that a distribution should encourage it's
users to interact with this powerful interface and not attempt to cater
to the affects of Microsoft's campaign to dumb it's users down. Most
GNU/Linux users who have made the transition from Windows are delighted
to learn about the flexibility and power that is provided by a GNU/Linux
system and I see no reason to dissuade future generations from
experiencing the same rewarding feelings of empowerment.
Also worth noting is the lack of an expert mode in the installation
routine. While I'm happy to see that Mandrake has made great progress in
the ease-of-use department, it seems that this progress may be coming at
a price to those of us that are not new to the platform and therefore,
are looking for flexibility. Especially confusing is the fact that
although the installation routine offers an expert mode, when clicked,
no choices are presented. As a result, I can not help but wonder if this
is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
Either Mandrake has decided to abandon the concept of expert mode and
has failed to remove all fragments, or someone just forgot to actually
get it to work. Either way, I am anxious to hear your comments on both
of these issues.
Sincerely,
Michael Richardson
NYLXS President
New York GNU/Linux Scene
--
# chown -R linux.GNU world
____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
|
|
