[extropy-chat] all quiet on the extrope front

[Randall Randall]

On Jan 26, 2007, at 12:56 PM, BillK wrote:
> On 1/26/07, Randall Randall wrote:
>> On Jan 25, 2007, at 11:33 PM, spike wrote:
>>> Fred, soon none of the younger geeks will get unix jokes.  {8^D
>>
>> Are you kidding?  Linux and Mac OS X are gaining
>> market share, are they not?  Both of these are unix,
>> so unix will be around for some time. :)
>
> Regrettably I have failed to read Spike's mind on this comment.
>
> But perhaps he refers to the idea that if Linux and Mac OS X are
> expanding in use (as I also agree) then it is not because the great
> unwashed masses are learning to use the command line. It is because
> Linux and Mac are increasing their GUI capabilities so that new users
> never need to use the command line.
>
> In the increasingly rare occasions when command line usage is required
> to fix a Linux problem you can usually find a Linux geek in a
> subterranean dungeon somewhere. You just have to use jelly babies and
> coffee to lure him out, blinking in the unaccustomed daylight, to fix
> it with a few magical commands. (You also have to put up with being
> told at length how big an idiot you are, but that's a small price to
> pay).   :)

Well, but Spike specifically said "younger *geeks*" (my emphasis).  If
someone is a Windows geek, I could see how they could easily not be
familiar with the command line, even on Windows.  But a Linux or Mac
geek, in today's world, will certainly know all about the unixy CLI
goodness available in both of these systems.

I guess there are still some "legacy" Mac users who are barely aware
that their Macs are now real computers (sorry; couldn't resist), but
surely not many?

Signed, a Mac geek since leaving desktop Linux in 2003.  ;)

Perhaps this is not the sort of discussion for which Damien was
hoping, eh?

--
Randall Randall <randall at randallsquared.com>
"This is a fascinating question, right up there with whether rocks
fall because of gravity or being dropped, and whether 3+5=5+3
because addition is commutative or because they both equal 8."
   - Scott Aaronson