[NTLUG:Discuss] Linux Distro

[Eric Moody]

Steve Baker wrote: 

>One way that CLI methods win hands down over GUI mechanisms is that
>in an email, it's a lot easier to tell someone a string of shell commands
>than it is to describe a set of check boxes, dialogs and menu entries
>to do the same thing.  So regardless of what is or is not easiest to
>use, email answers are heavily biased towards CLI or config file edits
>rather than point-and-click solutions.


I did tech support for an Evil Company's server product a few years ago. And even my current job requires me to do some tech support. And I have found when you have a user that knows nothing about computers, it is much easier to walk them threw doing something on the command line instead of a GUI. In a GUI there are many things that could be misunderstood. The user left clicks instead of a right click. Does not hold the mouse button when dragging and dropping, etc. On a command line things are very black and white. Tell the user to type copy and they will get it, slowly but they will get it. Some commands you might have to spell out but that's fine. You get there computer fixed with less headache and they often they feel better about the whole experience. Because now they know how to something the "hard way", and their friends don't.

Also in my personal use I find it quicker to type than to click. At work I have to use windows almost exclusively. I can press the windows key, up arrow twice cmd enter d: cd whatever cd whatever2 start work.file and be doing my work in the same time it takes to clear my desktop so that I can get to my computer. 

Eric