🚀 go-pugleaf

rmcassid@uci.edu (Robert Cassidy) writes:

>The biggest problem with UNIX from the standpoint of a typical user is the
>routine lack of feedback. The very feature that draws many people to UNIX
>(Of course I want to delete/replace/remove/move/whatever that thing. I
>told you, why are you asking me if it's OK?!) is the very feature that
>makes UNIX a bad choice for most.

alias mv='mv -iv'
alias rm='rm -iv'

...etc.  With a bit of work when setting up the system, it can be made
more friendly to novices.

> Since UNIX doesn't give a damn if you
>delete half of your hard drive without warning you, or care if anybody on
>the planet can get root access to your system - that makes it dangerous
>for novices.

At least Unix has the concept of a separate 'root' login.  A new user
that doesn't know that password won't be able to do much harm.  On
Windoze or a Mac, there is no security, and anyone can delete or alter
vital files - typing 'edit win.ini' or dragging some application's
folder to the trash, or deleting someone else's documents.

I was in a Radio Shack[tm] last week, and the PC there was refusing to
run windows because of a memory manager problem.  The Radio Shack[tm]
drones couldn't figure it out, so they ignored it... I called up an
editor and fixed the typo in config.sys... it would have been just as
easy to do something malicious.  If that had been a Unix box, the
password would have been required to fix it, but it wouldn't have been
messed up in the first place.

> UNIX assumes you know what you are doing, the Mac and Win
>assume that you do not - which sounds safer to you?

'safer'?  It's much easier to render a Mac/Windows box completely
unusable (until the OS is reinstalled) than to do the same to a Unix
machine. 

> Do you prefer exposed
>wires in your home (you should know not to touch them) or do you keep them
>under layers of protection (just in case you accidentally touch them)? 

I prefer to have the layers insulated, but somewhere that they can be
reached if maintenance is needed, rather than sealed beneath a layer
of concrete.


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"NO ONE expects the Spanish Inquisition!"	hucke@cynico.com
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