I've been using Open Source since Linux was distributed on floppies. It was difficult then with limited documentation but I perservered and learnt a great deal. Many professionals today want a GUI to hide the complexities from them, this is understandable BUT too many of them never understand or even attempt to understand what's happening underneath.
This is a result, I believe, of the Windows approach of hiding everything from the casual user. Unfortunately, the casual user has now become an IS/IT professional. There has been a dramatic dumbing down of your average IS/IT worker. We all see it every day, typical example: 2Mbyte bitmap emailed to me, it was a screenshot showing an error.. this was from a "professional"
My view is that if someone doesn't understand the software then they shouldn't be using it. Harsh I know but I do apply it to my self. If I can't get something to work I'll find out as much as I can about what it does, read the source until I understand.
Maybe more should be done by the Open Source community to educate users? Get them more involved..
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I've been using Open Source since Linux was distributed on floppies. It was difficult then with limited documentation but I perservered and learnt a great deal. Many professionals today want a GUI to hide the complexities from them, this is understandable BUT too many of them never understand or even attempt to understand what's happening underneath.
This is a result, I believe, of the Windows approach of hiding everything from the casual user. Unfortunately, the casual user has now become an IS/IT professional. There has been a dramatic dumbing down of your average IS/IT worker. We all see it every day, typical example: 2Mbyte bitmap emailed to me, it was a screenshot showing an error.. this was from a "professional"
My view is that if someone doesn't understand the software then they shouldn't be using it. Harsh I know but I do apply it to my self. If I can't get something to work I'll find out as much as I can about what it does, read the source until I understand. Maybe more should be done by the Open Source community to educate users? Get them more involved..