Re: January meeting

[nospam [at] south-of-heaven.demon.co.uk]

> surprised at the quality of the product but don't like the messing
> around to get it working just the way they want (a five year old child
> can reconfigure the desktop of a win98 machine!......although i must
> admit, that's not always an advantage!)

Right you are. It's a trade off. You cannot (and that's cannot with a capital
C, A
N, etc.) have more power and configurability without adding more complexity.
And while UI design can make thinks more intuitive, a novice user will not
be able to configure a firewall, for example. Default configurations and
simplifications
are OK, but one day you will need to get under the hood.

> WHY !!!!!! 'cos word works as soon as you install it!!!!!!

So does LaTeX, at least it did for me.

> configuring and printing from a text based program under linux is my
> idea of hell.....

lpr <filename>
How can that be simplified?

> you have got to realise that most people want simplisity of use, post
> script quality printing and the like are for profesional publishers
> (they may be willing to put up with this type of unfriendly interface).
> if you insist on pushing people away by not providing a friendly
> interface, then IT development will move off in a different direction
> altogether.

It should be easy to use. UNIX does have a problem with inconsistency among
interfaces, both GUI and command line, for a variety of reasons. People are
working on it. The annoying thing is people who claim Linux has a bad UI because
it isn't the same as Windows. They don't think what's the best way? they just
immediately
claim it's crap because it isn't <insert favourite Windows program here>.
I mean, have you used 3D Studio MAX under Windows? Now that's a UI to behold.

> IT should be a cutomer led enviroment.................
>
> ahhhh..... i feel much better now..............

Customers with stupid preconceptions are annoying.

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