His laughable hyperbole is not needed.

The attitude that would engender posts like the one from “Not You’, have continued to insure that Linux usershare will remain under 1%.

The command line is powerful and useful, and readily available. I cannot fathom why this question even arises, however. It is no more difficult to find it using Ubuntu, than any other GUI-based distribution.

I agree with Phuocle, there is a certain arrogance among some Linux users, as though anyone who doesn’t want to hack the kernel is an idiot. In fact, most people just want to use their computers without having to become computer scientists, and there is nothing wrong with this attitude. You don’t ask people to become electronics engineers to use a television. Why must they know about their operating system just to use their computers for e-mail, browsing, word processing, and so on? There is no reason at all for this. This attitude is a form of “machismo”, which does much to drive people away.

In my opinion, Linux is about choice. If you like, you can *choose* to hack the kernel, rewrite gcc, tweak your desktop environment, or do whatever you want. You can live entirely in the command line, browse the Internet using lynx or emacs, or write the next killer app using nano and a sharpened stick if you like.

But now you can also just insert the installation disk, install Ubuntu, and within thirty minutes start using your computer without worrying about all those pesky details.

The vast majority of people aren’t going to bother learning the inner workings of Linux, and there is no reason for them to do so. Those who wish for Linux to garner more than a few die-hard fans need to understand that it will never happen if users cannot make things “just work”. Ubuntu does this, most of the time. Insulting people because they just want to *use* their computers does nothing to help matters.

There will *always* be “Joe Sixpack” who straddles a computer seat and doesn’t know any better than point-and-click. Thank-you GUIs. So this aspect to PC use is “here to stay”, regardless of the mud we sling at GUIs (not just Windows or Mac OS).

But there are those who will “open the hood” occasionally and get their hands dirty with a little bit of grease. They might pride themselves that they actually typed ‘ls’, hit Enter and saw a list of files. Woot! Let’s not squelch first steps.

Then there are those who will see answers to complex problems that can only be found in the CLI in forums. It will dawn on them that there’s something huge and powerful “under the hood” that’s accessible to anyone.

And of course… there are the basement geeks that’ll tell you to the Nth degree what a single GNU command will do and how to tinker with its switches, much to his delight.

I find that I learn best when a problem appears before me. Then the solution becomes oh so much more important and worth remembering. Slogging through a billion CLI commands and their switches is perfect for helping me get to sleep.

I would almost say that whining about “Joe SIxpack” not using the Terminal or CLI with Ubuntu is… heehee… a back-handed compliment. If this distribution of Linux helps him get his work done (though he’ll never understand or even care about Linux’s nervous system), don’t we prefer this be done by Joe in Ubuntu instead of Vista?

Ubuntu has ensured GNU/Linux will never return to the status of basement nerd’s hobby project. But I’m fully confident that a large number of nerds/geeks/gurus will forever be lurking there learning the CLI, tweaking, adjusting, boasting of greater stability and so forth. Source code must always be there.

I like CLI, but if someone doesn’t know how to use it, let there be a GUI choice for the operation. Isn’t Linux about freedom? Let there be freedom of choice.

I agree about the “mouseclicker’s” being a threat to “dumbing” down linux.

I am glad to say I am one of these “dumb” people. I have finally fully shed M$ fully.
Yes I may not be a guru, but I am not a novice. No I cannot compile a kernel yet, but I am able to $PATH, compile from source, grep, find, top, meh meh meh.
CLI is not a threat to me, nor can I survive 100% via the command line, but why shoudl we be the lesser for wanting to shed the commercial and embrace this community? Are only the technically predisposed allowed to sink their feet into the world of *nix?

My real question is this: Why bash what helps the transition?

GENERAL BLURT:
I helped my brother in law install ubuntu on his dualcore, and the first thing he said was “Wow, it’s FAST!”

He is an aspiring programmer and a graphic artist. The point and click of the ease is good for those who want it to “just work”.
I come from the general thought of I want the PC to work for me, not rule me.
Am I alone?
Those who are guru’s, be praised!
Those who are noobs, be welcome!
THe rest of us will do what is best for us

RZ

I’m a Windows user (for now) but have tested Linux here and there. Yes, I know how to use the CLI beyond compiling and installing programs. In fact, I have grep and cat command line programs for Windows on my box now.

This level of condescension is NOT NEEDED for Linux. There are “stupid mouse clickers” that are many times smarter than NotYou. Face the facts, the GUI is many many times better than any command line interface for 99.99% of the tasks people use everyday. That’s one of the reasons even Linux have incorporated a GUI from its early days of CLI only. Get it yet? GUI is better and the obvious next step for computer user interface.

Do the entire Linux community a huge favor and get over yourself.

Ooh, so someone can ./configure && make && sudo make install

care to explain how to use sed, diff, find, cut, cat, grep, $CWD, $PWD……………………

That’s not what should be taken into context when someone states that Ubuntu users can’t use the command line. It’s meant as saying it’s dumbing down Linux and turning the users into stupid lazy mouse clickers.

Take a stroll through the Ubuntu forums and count how many questions where asked in the last hour that could have been answered if the user had the intelligence to use goolge or read a man page.

Microsoft didn’t ruin Windows, stupid lazy mouse clickers did. How did you get that virus, IDK I double clicked on a .bat file sent to me about enlargements. What did you do just before the BSOD? IDK, I uninstalled a program by deleting the Program Files folder.

How did you get that root kit on Ubuntu? IDK, I double clicked on super sweet leet Ubuntuspinnerwinner screensaver. It needed my password to install so I did. Now my /home directory isn’t there, and my box was turned into a pedo uploading slave bot.

What’s a wheel group and visudo? Policykit with no timeout FTW >_> <_<

It will only get worse.