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Has the Command Line Outstayed Its Welcome?

Posted by samzenpus on from the time-to-go dept.

dgharmon writes "The Command Line Interface has its uses, acknowledged Mobile Raptor blogger Roberto Lim, but no piece of technology targeted at the consumer market should ever require that something be done via CLI, he says. Keep it as an option or you can take it out all together. 'If it is there, it should just be there for the IT people or tech support to use when you encounter a problem.'"

4 of 1,134 comments (clear)

  1. Just what they want Linux to become ? by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 0, Troll

    Just the other day a Linux distro decided that they want to do away with "Upgrade Kernel Without Reboot" feature of Linux

    Now this guy wants to do away with CLI

    Just what do they want to turn Linux into - another M$-Windows-like kludge?

    While they are at it, why don't they import the "Windows registry feature" into Linux, and/or turn Linux into a proprietary closed-sourced OS??

    Why can't they just leave Linux alone?

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Just what they want Linux to become ? by interkin3tic · · Score: 0, Troll

      Convergent evolution happened fairly regularly during evolution, it shouldn't be a surprise that the same thing happens in software. If something is successful in windows, why not move in that direction with some linux distros?

      I can think of just two reasons why you would object to it. 1: You simply don't like change. Don't upgrade if that's the case. 2: You don't like windows due to brand preference, not because of any specific feature. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing, you say "while they are at it, why don't they change everything else" but that doesn't make any sense..

      Doing something different because it can be done better, that is okay. I think the things you listed there at the end are clear examples of that. Doing something different simply to do something different, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. Maintaining the command line interface simply because that's how you do things in linux, those of us who don't belong to the church of linux don't see the logic in that. Linux is still daunting to most users. I say that as a user who has tried to start using linux, but I'm still not comfortable with it. Tried ubuntu and mint, Windows has spoiled me I suppose. When I have to go to the CLI after dealing with not being able to do something I already know how to do in windows, I'm pretty likely to say "fuck it" and just use windows. Most other computer users aren't as computer savvy as me, even though most slashdotters are far more knowledgeable.

      So I guess it comes back to why you object to linux distros and windows converging again. If you simply don't like change and would prefer to see linux continue to be used by few people, then I guess keeping the CLI would be a good way to prevent more people from switching away from windows. If you simply don't like windows, then you should be happy to see linux distros moving more toward what users already know and are comfortable with so they can migrate from that closed source OS you don't like. And if you can't stand using it yourself, there are always other distros for you.

    2. Re:Just what they want Linux to become ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      the average joe doesn't have any of those problems because they just don't come across those situations. also, your last bit isn't really true anymore and just repeated multiple times as if it were fact so people assume it is so. its much MUCH simpler to install new hardware on windows than it is linux (if it will even work with linux... seriously, you're complaining about searching for drivers on the net with windows? have you not installed anything on linux before?). More hardware works out of the box with windows than linux, hell, so much so that i don't need to look it up online to see if it does. Your file hierarchy issue? exaggerate much?

      some of the issues you point out about windows tend to be hundreds of times worse on linux. your problem is that you know enough about both systems that you can pick which one you prefer (yes, things you mentioned do boil down to opinion), whereas the average joe doesn't have that option. they go with whatever one works the easiest when all you do is click "Next"

  2. Re:Search (as most people use it) not CLI by CapOblivious2010 · · Score: 0, Troll

    None of those are really command lines... A real google CLI would be more like:

    $ google --type=images --keywords="cats" --image-size=medium --safesearch=off

    ...and I hope we can all see that while linux people might feel right at home, the average user would go to bing or yahoo or whatever in a matter of seconds.