From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (qmail 15502 invoked by uid 1002); 20 Apr 2003 02:50:56 -0000 Mailing-List: contact gentoo-dev-help@gentoo.org; run by ezmlm Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Received: (qmail 561 invoked from network); 20 Apr 2003 02:50:55 -0000 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" From: Evan Powers To: gentoo-dev@gentoo.org Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2003 22:50:54 -0400 User-Agent: KMail/1.4.3 References: <3E990CE2.6000707@omegabyte.com> <20030418093550.GF2114@firinn.org> In-Reply-To: <20030418093550.GF2114@firinn.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <200304192250.54658.powers.161@osu.edu> Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] GUI installer X-Archives-Salt: b0c03bf1-3414-40dc-927a-c657f85390fa X-Archives-Hash: f9e5aa5b6484957a9ca1a4a61d334a82 On Friday 18 April 2003 05:35 am, Mark Bainter wrote: > A GUI installer lowers the bar for entry on gentoo. Right now > many people who might want to use Gentoo, but are yet ready for > it do not attempt to use it because the install holds the bar > too high. That's a good thing. If we lower the bar so anyone's > grandma can install Gentoo, anyone's grandma will be flooding > the gentoo lists and forums with worthless questions that should > not need to be asked by someone using Gentoo. 1) Have you read gentoo-user recently? Everybody's grandmother already ru= ns=20 Gentoo, and already floots the list with worthless questions that "should= not=20 need to be asked by someone using Gentoo". Nobody cares, it's not a probl= em. 2) Improved convienience is something (nearly) every "power user" wants. = The=20 fact that a newbie can mistake convienience with simplicity is not my=20 problem. I still want convienience. "emerge" itself is a perfect example = of=20 this--it looks simple. That doesn't mean it is. 2a) A GUI can improve the convienience of an install for "power users" wh= o=20 would be comfortable with the manual install, but don't want to be bother= ed.=20 I /can/ perform the installation process manually, and I would fight to t= he=20 death any attempt to remove that capability. But just because I /can/,=20 doesn't mean I /want to/. If I want to install in a manner straightforwar= d=20 enough that it can be automated, it should be automated. That's why I hav= e a=20 computer. 2b) The fact that some newbie might look at this and think things are sim= ple=20 or idiot proof is not the "power user's" problem, and doesn't mean we "po= wer=20 users" should sacrifice the advantages it might offer us. 3) The install is probably the only thing in Gentoo someone slightly more= =20 skilled than necessary to admin a Red Hat install wouldn't be capable of.= If=20 that's true, why shouldn't we remove that barrier to entry? The point of=20 Gentoo is not the elite nature of its current user base. It's the technol= ogy=20 behind it. If we can give more classes of user access to our technology, = why=20 shouldn't we? Okay, I'm done biting on the flaimbait. Evan -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list