Today on IRC, we had a discussion about the Linux command line. One person claimed that CL is useless now, and that he prefers GUI applications, and in fact doing everything using GUI over doing it via console. The fact that Linux still involves a lot of console typing was his argument against it, and at the same time a point for Windows machines for not utilising this "ancient" technology any longer.
Why can't I agree with him? Sure I could tell him about the X environment and a lot of great amount of GUI applications for Linux, but I had something else in mind. Often I help new Linux users, and sometimes my old friends who are having some problems with their Windows boxes.
Why am I having less trouble explaining to fresh Linux user how to make something work (even complicated) then explaining sometimes trivial cases to more experienced Windows users? The answer is in the command line. If the person I am trying to help uses Linux, I don't usually care what distribution he runs, because I just have to drop him some commands that he usually copies to his console and runs. A couple minutes of this copy/paste procedure usually solves most problems, and if he asks what the commands I give him do? Then I'm really happy and gladly explain, because that means he wants to learn. But there are times, when You encounter someone that just can't copy/paste the "right way" (believe me it happens) or the problem is a little more complicated to do it quickly that way. How to solve such a problem? Easy, drop some commands into a shell script, add some environment checks, tell the one You are helping to wget the file which you previously uploaded, and just run it typing sh file.sh or whatever scripting language you choose for the task - problem solved.
So that was a short description of helping a Linux user, it's not always that easy, and I must admit that sometimes I don't know how to solve a specific problem, but that is off-topic right now, so let's look why I don't like helping Windows users.
It's not that I don't want to help, because they are using Windows and I am using Linux. It's not that I don't know how to help them (if I don't know how to help in a particular problem I tell it up front), but there are times when I know exactly what's wrong and the answer is just several *clicks* ahead...
*click* Yes the dreaded sound, try to explain to someone where exactly to click to do something, each application has a slightly different GUI, and some people can get easily lost in them. If a Linux user had some trouble with a GUI app, I could tell him which file to edit and give him the exact lines for substitution, or do a simple Perl script that would do the job for him.
But not on Windows. Most applications do not use configuration files, also Windows misses several console applications that can easily help me determine what's wrong (sometimes a quick grep on a file tells more then a user reading you the error that popped up on his screen). You just have to be patient, and explain where to *click* and hope that the version you used several years ago had the same GUI as he is using now. I think I don't have to explain how hard this simple task can get...
Some people are afraid of the command line, and boycott Linux for using it. Well mostly those people have no idea how the CL can be used, and what advance it gives. For a long time Linux runner, doing most stuff using the command line is much quicker than clicking in the GUI. And for those that are new to the system, You will appreciate it the first time that someone gives you 3 or 4 commands that solve the horrible problem that haunted you for weeks...
My Opera
