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On Thursday 18 July 2002 04:44 pm, Victor Odhner wrote:
> Here's an exercise for you (one that was imposed on me
> this week):  help a Windows user step through some
> operations, such as installing a new program, without
> EVER asking them to type a shell command.  It was a
> sobering experience, and it reinforced the opinions
> I'm expressing here.

This depends on your distribution.  There are many excellent graphical tools 
for most common tasks.  Yes it is a fragmented "market", but that is the 
purpose of a distribution.  Lycoris, Mandrake, Suse (?), Lindows, Xandros 
(and I'm sure there are others) all dedicate a significant effort on behalf 
of the casual user market.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the problem is being examined.  Can 
a casual user sit down and do anything they want without reading a manual?  
No, but the answer is the same no matter which OS you are looking at.  In 
the end, a computer is a general purpose machine and we are still trying to 
decide what is "best" for the user.

You say the "desktop fell flat on its face", but I think you meant to say 
that it does not behave in a similar manner to Windows.  That is certainly 
a valid opinion, but distributions exist to deal with the "transition 
market", as well. ;-)

- -- 
						Logan Kennelly
      ,,,
     (. .)
- --ooO-(_)-Ooo--
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