On Sat, Oct 22, 2016 at 10:24:06AM +0200, Wouter Verhelst wrote: > On Fri, Oct 21, 2016 at 07:17:15PM +0200, Bart Schouten wrote: > > I just mean is that you shouldn't try to expand the scope of your userbase > > beyond what is reasonable possible because it is not possible anyway > > That is a fairly defeatist attitude. > > > and you should recognise that you *are* a technical system of a certain > > amount of detail and expertise that is required to use it. >
You need a certain amount of expertise to use any computer system. The advice I would give to anyone contemplating a move to Linux is to have someone else around to talk to. Debian is very straightforward to use - and to install and run - if you've used Linux before. It's not my personal recommendation for a first distribution to touch with no help - but then I don't recommend that anyone should have no help when confronted with a computer for the first time. > Debian allows those who want to, to look under the hood and do a lot of > "interesting" things. However, "a certain level of [...] expertise" is > certainly not *required* to *use* it. When I installed Debian for my > parents, they could use it with very little problems (they have since > chosen to move away from Debian for unrelated reasons, but that does not > take away the fact that they found it usable). > > I think that that is a feature, and that we should try to avoid losing > it. Absolutely > > > And that it is also /difficult/ to a certain extent. And that's okay > > too. > It's no more difficult than using a Mac for the first time / a Windows that is much newer than the one you might be used to. Familiarity usually beats a willingness to try something new for many people. AndyC > I don't think so. Making something difficult is the best way to avoid > getting more users. Not getting more users is the best way to avoid > getting more developers. Not getting more developers is the best way to > lose traction, which would get us into oblivion. > > -- > < ron> I mean, the main *practical* problem with C++, is there's like a dozen > people in the world who think they really understand all of its rules, > and pretty much all of them are just lying to themselves too. > -- #debian-devel, OFTC, 2016-02-12
