Brice Méalier said: > > Sure a GUI is not a bad habit! far from that! but it has the drawback to > lower the "brain use" of the user... A computer is a tool which use you > must learn and unfortunately GUIs tend to avoid any learning from the > user side.
This is true, but most users don't want to learn anything about their PC, they just want it to "work." I too deal with supporting end users on an application that I develop and it seems to me that at least 50% of the people I have to deal with on a daily basis for support have no idea where the top left corner of the screen is, much less would they be able to comprehend how to begin using the command prompt for anything at all. They can't even use windows explorer to find the files I need them to send me if there's a problem. IMO, it's not a question of learning from the GUI or command prompt at all. It's something more along the lines of "I don't care" that I see from the users. > But I think that if we get this e-mail that means the sender wants to > learn, so why not try to give him some useful hints even if he will not > use them, at least he'll be aware of. > I don't think that normal users will approach specialized mailing-lists. Not always, but a mailing-list of this type is most certainly filled with people who want to learn. Linux isn't your run of the mill operating system in today's society, unfortunately Windows has that market. How many windows user lists are there in comparison to the Linux ones? It may be comparing apples to oranges here, but I'm on a few other mailing lists and I tend to notice new members when they post a "I can't figure this out" thread. IMO, most people come to these types of mailing lists when they're at the end of their rope and can't figure out what's causing their problems so they come here and ask us so that we'll fix their problems. > Yes initially windows is organized but you have to keep it organized as > well as some programs purely install in C:\ Unfortunately being the only tech guy in my group of friends, everyone I know tends to come to me with their computer problems. Most of them have no idea that you can change the location a program installs to. I asked a friend why he didn't put all his software in the "program files" directory and got this answer "Why wouldn't you want to accept the defaults anyway? The people who wrote the program know where it belongs better than I do." You're overestimating the average end user. -- - Josh www.omg-stfu.com -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
