[WEB4LIB] Re: Little of GNU/Linux in Libraries (was: The beginning

[Bob Craigmile]

Some thoughts on this:

*Command line is often FASTER than gui
*Folks do hate to learn new stuff
*In my experience (using SIRSI a few years ago) I noticed that the 
librarians didn't really enjoy the switch to the GUI very much.  It was 
clunky and got in the way of doing what they needed to do.  Checking out 
books required too much pointing/clicking, etc.  It's probably fixed now, 
but command line is efficient.  Read Neil Stephenson's rant on 
www.cryptonomicon.com about this (praises linux a lot).

So the solution, as in web page creation, is to have folks learn the "raw" 
command line FIRST, then let them tinker with the GUI junk.  FWIW, I use MS 
every day and *nix only rarely in daily use.

At 01:31 PM 6/12/01 -0700, Chris LeBlanc wrote:
>"c.murdock" wrote:
> >
> > >The only thing that is
> > > keeping Linux down is the user interface. People are scared of Linux
> > > because t's a high intensity command line driven system that gives you
> > > total control over your computer. Folks don't want to learn complicated
> > > commands nor do they want complete control over their computer.
> >
> > Being a Linux/OpenBSD/Windows user myself, I agree with most of what 
> Dan has
> > to say, but I really must disagree with his statement that Linux is totally
> > oriented around the command line.  Well, sort of.  Linux definitely is
> > command line based, which I personally think is a tremendous plus, but I
> > think that the graphical interfaces and programs available have really
> > matured to the point that the average Windows user would have no trouble
> > doing the things they usually do, i.e., web browsing, email, word 
> processing,
> > and maybe some graphics editing.  In fact, my goal is to replace most of my
> > library's staff computers with thin clients running Mandrake 8 and KDE 2.
> > The problem is those few programs that don't have a viable equivalent in
> > Linux, like MS Publisher.  (If someone knows of one, please tell me!)
>
>The greatest problem of GNU/Linux as an alternative to MS Windows, is that
>people don't like change.  They don't want to switch from one system to 
>another.

Regards,

Bob Craigmile, M.C.P., M.A., M.L.S.
(541) 899-2810
bcraig at internetcds.com