[H-GEN] Re: Unix vs NT [long; both informative and then religious]

[Doug Young]

(Note reply-to: being general at humbug.org.au vs "Doug Young" <dougy at gargoyle.apana.org.au>)

When one has acquired a library of stuff that would equip a small university
and has been trying for some years to make sense out of the available
documentation there is obviously something lacking in the way concepts are
presented  -----  how acceptable would an operators manual be for any other
technical device on this the planet if it was as obtuse and uninformative as
the typical MAN / HOWTO ??

The proof that many people find this stuff extremely difficult to comprehend
is seen in the number of publications available in bookshops and the number
of newsgroups devoted to various aspects of the *nixes. Its informative to
monitor some of these lists and note the number of newbies who disappear
after a very short time .... probably due to frustration at not getting
anywhere with resolving even the most basic issues. Maybe the faithful
accept this as acceptable ..... maybe its even seen as desirable (after all
we don't want too many of those dreaded newbies actually figuring this stuff
out !!!! .... or at least not without experiencing as much trauma as
possible)

Consider the number of newbies who purchased those "APC Linux Pocketbooks" a
few months ago ...... how many of them would have done so if there wasn't a
nice simple instruction booklet and a GUI version of Redhat 5.2 included ??
..... after all the linux O/S complete with HOWTO's has been available free
on the net since the dawn of time


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