Re:Linux does not require technical ability (Score 1)

"The RH9 installer does not even make suggestions for how to partition the hard drive. (A friend asked if he should make the root ext3 or a swap partition? The interface implies that this is acceptable.)"

Bad example. If you install Red Hat it will either wipe the disk and choose its own partitioning scheme (which is Red Hat doing more than making suggestions, it's actually implementing them), or, if your friend chose Disk Druid (implication: "I am technically competent"), it won't let you put a mount point on any partition you define as type "swap". The interface won't let you do what your friend thought might be possible.

If your non-technical friend chose the third option (fdisk) then he's explicitly saying "I am technical!". In which case the analogy is that he decided to edit the Windows registry.