[RULE] avoiding non-gui

[Richard Kweskin]

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 05:42:18 +0200
"M. Fioretti" <m.fioretti at inwind.it> wrote:

> snip
> 
> GUI and mouse are not intrinsically evil, of course. The simple reason
> why we end up with CLI apps many times, especially in projects like
> this, is simply because GUI apps *do*, intrinsically, take much more
> disk and RAM space, especially if you can't, for any reason rebuild or
> redesign them from scratch. KDE, Gnome and the trendy stuff around is
> designed by people who don't care for limited hardware, and think, in
> absolutely good faith, that everybody has the money to buy the same PC

Agreed, 100%

> they have, or a more powerful one. Simple like that. Hence, if you
> strive to give IT access to students, so that they'll more easily get
> a good salary, you have to tell them "You'll buy yourself a
> multimedia/full GUI PC, because there's nothing wrong in it, when you
> can afford it. To learn now how to earn that money, however, you have
> to use CLI".
 
Here, too, I agree. With kids who are learning it is best to get in
where most of us here at the RULE project are doing.

> Said this, one thing that is often overlooked is that many CLI apps
> are not just simply faster, they have much more features because there
> is where their developers focus. I use mutt not because is faster
> (which it is) but mainly because I can do with it things not possible,
> or much more complicated, with other mailers.

This is an interesting point and is why I go to the command line as much
as I do.

All that having been said, however, my thoughts turn to another "target group"
that has long been in my mind. They are neither kids nor are they very
interested in details. They just want to get something done, usually
something simple like create a document, browse the web, or exchange mail.

These people almost always wind up with Microsoft. Often, here in Greece,
new hardware is not an option. Thus my particular focus (in this thread)
was to see how far one could go towards getting a configuration that
would not be as demanding as a usual Gnu/Linux configuration that Shrike
would offer, but would be an attractive alternative to what these potential
users already have in their non-free setups.

Reading what some other RULE contributors have asked for, it seemed to me
what I just described fits their needs, too.

Of course, it is not what everyone here in RULE are excited about. For myself
I have gained so much more understanding and interest working through
what Michael's scripts and others have shared precisely because I enjoy
coming to grips with Gnu/Linux.

Richard


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