[UFO Chicago] [mailman-owner@flynn.zork.net: ufo subscription notification]

[Larry Garfield]

Jordan Bettis wrote:

> > I stumbled across this list while looking for hotspots in Chicago.
> > Google let me to UFO (not sure how) which was actually good fortune, i
> > since I used to participate in a similar group in Berkeley
> > (www.weak.org/buug/).  My creds:  FreeBSD at home, OSX on the laptop,
> > and cygwin at work (because I have to).
> 
> Ok, I understand work, but what's the excuse for the Laptop? If your BSDfoo
> is so good, why do you feel the need to accept the proprietary crap from
> Mr. Turtleneck? Is a few pretty buttons and some flashy colors all it takes
> to make you forsake freedom? I think you need a reality adjustment.

I could have predicted Jordan would say something like that. :-)

What Jordan fails to realize (as do many people, including RMS himself)
is that philosophical "purity" only goes so far.  Let's face it; normal
people use computers to perform a task, not to espouse a world view.  If
your main use of a PC is to be an activist about it and not to actually
DO anything, you need a reality adjustment.  

Now that we're dealing with normal people and not fit-in-the-air
activists who are out of touch with the real world, the primary purpose
of a computer is to make it easier for the user to complete a given
task.  A significant component of that is the interface to the computer,
or the application residing on the computer.  A good interface will make
or break an otherwise useful application when it comes to ability to
complete a given task.

Most FS/OSS programs, to be blunt, suck in the interface department. 
They are inconsistent, incomplete, non-intuitive, and otherwise sub-par
in most respects.  Now, take OS X.  Ignore for a moment the licensing
involved.  OS X is a *nix-variant operating system (Darwin) with a
clean, consistent, elegant, and user-friendly interface (Aqua) that
allows the user to harness the power of a *nix architecture *without
ever touching a command line*; without having to know what an init
script is; without ever needing to understand the obscurity that is
regular expressions (let's face it, powerful as they are they are NOT
designed to be easily learned); without scaring people with the idea of
"compiling" their software; without, quite simply, requiring the user to
be a developer or "geek".  By Geeks For Geeks is the fundamental
philosophy behind most Open Source Software and almost all Free
Software.  If GNU-esque users and developers want to get more market
share than the 5% of the desktop it has now, that MUST change.

When KDE or GNOME allow you to control your entire Linux-based machine,
including starting and stopping servers, reconfiguring them, installing,
configuring, and uninstalling applications, then we'll talk.  Until
then, Yay Apple!

<insert flamewar here>

-- 
Larry Garfield			AIM: LOLG42
lgarfiel@students.depaul.edu	ICQ: 6817012

-- "If at first you don't succeed, skydiving isn't for you." :-)