Let's get the tools right this time (Score 2)

I think a lot of people are missing the point here. It's not that us folk who have been using Linux for years are being OS bigots and don't want to let everyone else play with "our" OS - it boils down to the fact that we know, from experience, that when a user becomes dependant on a config tool, they cannot solve the simplest (to us anyway) problems manually when the config tool doesn't provide the funcionality. The solution to this is simple - Create config tools which teach the user as they go along in configurating their system. Tell them *why* they need to create user accounts, and exactly *how* it is doing it etc. Don't just do it all for them, although you might get through the config a few seconds quicker, you'll be worse off in the long run. That way the user will be better prepared to be able to do the same thing on a system where the tool might not be available, or if the config tool is missing the functionality you are looking for, and will also give them clues as how to approach other problems. It's the same as in every other aspect of day-to-day life. There will never be a config tool which can do *everything* on every single specific system, and do it all properly. So the aim is to provide as much functionality as possible, and enough resources and clues to make sure they can intelligently think for themselves when the tool is lacking. Hopefully this will reduce the increasing number of I-wanna-be-spoon-fed idiots on IRC these days (some of whom have been using Linux for quite a while, but because they become dependant on linuxconf etc, they simply don't understand basic concepts), so that we can all work more productively. "Give a man a fish and he'll feed himself for a day. Give him the means to fish for himself and he'll curse you for the rest of his life"