[RULE] avoiding non-gui

[M. Fioretti]

On Thu, Jul 17, 2003 12:30:50 at 12:30:50PM +0300, Kweskin Richard (rkwesk at mail.ariadne-t.gr) wrote:
> Hello all
> 
> Not trying to start a flame :)
> 
> Most of my GNU/Linux learning and working is on the command line.
> 
> So, why? If showing non-enthusiasts that this can be useful to them
> is the point, then I believe the gui apps, if they can be made to work
> quickly enough, are the only hope I know.
> 
> Alternatively, ncurses and other inventive ideas that run on "challenged"
> hardware look less good and make "the sell" harder (if only psychologically.)
> 
> Richard
> 

Richard,
in general, may I ask you to _compose_ new messages when you want to
start a new thread, rather than replying to the last message and then
changing the subject? Threading is messed up otherwise, as it depends
from the In-Reply-To headers, not from the subject. Thanks.

Back to your question now, I am not sure I understand it, but I'll try
to answer sharing a couple of thoughts.

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
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".

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.

   Ciao
	Marco Fioretti
 

-- 
Marco Fioretti                 m.fioretti, at the server inwind.it
Red Hat for low memory         http://www.rule-project.org/en/

Go ahead, capitalize the T on technology, deify it if it will make you
feel less responsible -- but it puts you in with the neutered,
brother, in with the eunuchs keeping the harem of our stolen Earth for
the numb and joyless hardons of human sultans, human elite with no
right at all to be where they are --
			       Thomas Pynchon, _Gravity's Rainbow_


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