On Wed, Apr 11, 2001 at 07:44:52AM -0400, Kevin Stokes wrote:
> >PS - People take all their accumulated windows knowledge for
> granted. Years and years and years of it, and then expect that
> they can learn a new OS over night. Simply rediculous.<
>
> The truth is that I have *never* purchased or read a book on using the
> Windows operating system. I've never had to go online and look for DOC,
> with the exception of when Microsoft stuff crashes, in which case you can
> use their knowledge base. I had never even used the Windows Help system
> until my network didn't work. And then it was useful stuff. Their network
> stuff for 95/98 is a mess, and doesn't work right. But the help file was
> readable and gave you clear instructions on what you were supposed to do.
knowledge [sic] base ? don't get me started. okay, too late --
ever try setting up a directory display in explorer using, say
detail view (w95/98) and then try "make all directory/folder
windows look like this one"? when you open another folder and it
doesn't work, hop over to the ms knowledge[sic] base and search
for that -- you'll be told
"this behavior is by design"
now THAT's clever documentation.
> Anyway, the purpose of my post was not to criticize Linux. The purpose
> was to point out to people that Linux could have a much brighter future than
> it does now. My point is for every page which is actually readable by a
> newbie, there are 100 pages of stuff which is incomprehensible to him. A
> zillion pages on how to do all kinds of exotic cool things, and hardly any
> organized info on how to get Linux running with a GUI so you can run a
> word-processor, internet browser, email, and and be able to get printouts.
> And those pages which *are* suitable for newbies are mixed in with all the
> expert stuff.
you're right. part of the trouble is that fifteen hundred people,
over the course of 30 years, wrote thousands of lines of code,
and hundreds of documents... there is no top-down approach here;
you can spend all year documenting KDE and then when someone
chooses GNOME instead then you get an hour of flack for not
documenting THAT, too.
on the other hand, if you're volunteering to help provide some of
that documentation we lack, c'mon over. we've been waiting for
you.
sourceforge.net/projects/newbiedoc/
(there's a related project "mydebman" there, but i've not heard
of any activity on that front for quite some time.)
--
americans should never read anything so subversive as what's at
http://www.salon.com/people/col/pagl/2001/03/21/spring/index1.html
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://sourceforge.net/projects/newbiedoc -- we need your brain!
http://www.dontUthink.com/ -- your brain needs us!
