[NCLUG] root/superuser pwd question

[Bob Proulx]

Brian Wood wrote:
> You're correct there, even more than catering to non-Unix users, Ubuntu
> seems to cater specifically to people making the move from Windows
> (Though their system setup looks suspiciously like OS/X).
> ...
> I guess that's also why they chose Gnome, KDE appeals to folks wanting
> to be able to do more with their GUI (though KDE is 25 mega-KLOCs, as
> opposed to Gnome's 5 mega-KLOCs).

I always felt that KDE recreated a MS-Windows environment and GNOME
recreated a Mac environment.  Since the Mac targets an easy user
experience and so does Ubuntu there are bound to be similarities.

> I think it's a philosophical issue: is the goal to get people
> running a Unix system by making it "easier", or is the goal to teach
> people "traditional" Unix?

You have it exactly right.  It is a philosophical issue.  And this is
a common problem with design by committee projects.  No shared
vision.  It is worse because there are opposing visions!  Does
flexibility with many ways to do something provide good usability?
Does focused prcoesses with only a single way to do something provide
good usability?  Different people have opposing opinions on this.

> Someone who learned Unix from Ubuntu is in serious trouble if faced with
> a failed GUI, or a remote server that can only be accessed by ssh and a
> CLI, but I guess a non-mechanic is in trouble if their car breaks down
> in the desert, and I am certainly not an auto mechanic, but I still
> drive a car :-)

The generator on my 1946 C140 is giving me trouble.  But it has no
electronic parts and I can field service it almost anywhere.  It is
always the brushes and the commutator.  It will never leave me
stranded.  But it isn't modern by any means.

Anything modern works much better when it works.  But when modern gear
fails it usually fails much worse.  Usually when something modern
breaks it is a complete loss, dump in the landfill, replace with a new
one.  In that sense most of today's users would see your example of
the failure of the GUI as a complete loss, must reinstall the system
from scratch to replace it with a new one.

Most people choose things because of how it works when it works and
give no thought whatsoever to how it fails when it fails.

Bob