[conspire] Fonts on Linux

[Greg Dougherty]

Some questions from a "desktop user".

On 10/11/04, Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> writes:

> The big one is that running someone's huge, overly complex, buggy GNOME
> or KDE hairball is what where "desktop users" should want to end up.
> 
> They should not want that for a large number of reasons including it
> tending to decrease their competence with computers rather than increase
> it:  They tend to come to me for help when their screwed up systems, and 
> look shocked and dismayed when (as always) I immediately attempt to
> simplify the diagnostic situation and resort to simpler, lower-level
> tools, instead of waving a high-level magic wand.

I have no desire to ever type anythign into a command line.  IMHO, being forced
to use a command line is a user interface failure.

I also don't want to have to screw with the system.  I want it to "just work". 
I have useful things to accomplish wiht my life, fighting with the OS is not one
of them.  Niether is reading manuals.  I started using Macs back in 86, and
loved them because the idea of "making the interface visual" is IMHO the most
valuable idea in computer science, ever.

Note, I said "visual".  That doesn't mean simply throwing windows, icons, mice,
and pointers on top of a program, that means designing a visual representation
of the program that makes everything it can do available to a computer capable
user who checks out the program's menus.

So, are these "simpler, lower-level tools" command line based, or do they have a
GUI?  If they have a GUI, do you still need to spend lots of time RTFMing in
order to get what you want out of them?

If so, then IMHO they are the opposite of "simpler".