[TUHS] [SPAM] Re: FreeBSD behind the times? (was: Favorite unix design principles?)

[Bakul Shah]

On Jan 30, 2021, at 3:37 PM, Jon Steinhart <jon at fourwinds.com> wrote:
> 
> Larry McVoy writes:
>> It's 20 years past the time for that re-evaluation.  Seriously, Linux
>> distros have been installing in X for at least 20 years, I think maybe
>> more.  If they can do it....
> 
> That doesn't mean that it's great.  It's only easy to use once one learns
> the quirks, like it appearing to hang with no feedback when you hit buttons,
> and the way one has to click "done" when you're not actually done.  The
> number of options is so small that I think that it would be better to just
> have the whole configuration on a single screen so that newbies wouldn't
> have to wonder where things were done and whether or not they'd be able to
> "go back" without trying it.

I vastly prefer FreeBSD over Linux but Larry has a point. Presenting *any*
configuration choice to a newbie can be confusing as they often lack the
knowledge to make an "informed choice". I do think your idea of a single
screen config is great, but with defaults chosen! The installer should
proceed after a time if the user doesn't change anything. Perhaps this can
be a useful GSOC project?

But we should bring this back to design principles! Ease of use should
certainly be one of them.