On Fri, 27 Mar 1998, Steve "Stevers!" Coile wrote:
> who will? Are we to hope that UNIX will have the same, cryptic interface
> in 10 years that it has today, or should we hope that it will improve?
No, we should hope that it will improve. But replacing all the Unix
commands with identical DOS commands is not a step in the right direction.
Linux should not pretend to be where Microsoft was 10 years ago. It is
important to emphasize that Linux is not DOS. That will simultaneously
make new users realize that it is probably BETTER than DOS, and at the
same time if it does not try to pretend to be DOS then users will be less
likely to be upset when it turns out to not, in fact, be DOS. A user
presented with a Linux (bash) feature such as job control will be
astounded. Is it better to think "DOS doesn't have it, I'm really using
DOS, so I shouldn't use it here either" or to think "this must be one of
those neat Linux features."
> The problem with Microsoft is that they make it difficult to get at the
> guts of the system. Aliases just disguise the guts, they don't prevent
> access to them. I consider that a big distinction.
Maybe for you as an experienced user, but insulating the user from knowing
what's going on also makes for uneducated users, users who must
continually call tech support for basic tasks. I'm not saying that users
must know how to do everything, only that there isn't any need to actively
prevent them from learning about the system.
> >the user that it was a DOS command, they could then either get rid of
> >the message and continue using md or they could start using mkdir.
>
> Ick.
So start using mkdir. :)
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