Linux

6540 readers

491 users here now

A community for everything relating to the GNU/Linux operating system

Also check out:

Original icon base courtesy of lewing@isc.tamu.edu and The GIMP

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

Ategon@programming.dev

anzo@programming.dev

dwraf_of_ignorance@programming.dev

401

Linux or Landfill? End of Windows 10 Leaves PC Charities with Tough Choice (www.tomshardware.com)

submitted 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/linux@programming.dev

113 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Rivalarrival@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Agreed. And I certainly use a GUI more than a command line.

My point is only that the command line should not be considered "unfriendly" to the user.

I don't think "intuitive" is the proper metric for determining user friendliness. I think "ease of accomplishing a given task" is much more important. There are many tasks for which the command line is faster and simpler than using a GUI. Windows tends to hide these simpler, faster methods from the user. By regularly exposing the user to the CLI, Linux pushes the user to learn them.

Every button click is a dialog with the computer. It presents you with options and context, and waits for you to make a decision. Using a GUI, even simple tasks are going to take several dialogs to accomplish.

Most of the time, though, the user knows the exact task that needs to be accomplished, and is just appeasing the computer by going through each dialog to get to the point.

In these cases, the command line can enable the user to skip all that uneccessary dialog and go straight to execution of the intended task. I would say that this is not "unfriendly".