Comment 6 for bug 504668

Tacantara,

Yes I hear what you are saying and can see where you are coming from. However remember that we are aiming this manual to be friendly to new people coming fresh from windows/mac or who aren't very tech-savvy. A large number of these people will have absolutely no interest in learning scripting, and who will be put off by using the command line. I do understand that the CLI is extremely powerful and flexible, however many of these people will be thinking "I never had to type anything in windows or mac to do this stuff, why would I want to learn a new OS where I have to type just to get something working?" if we hit them with it right at the start. For those that do want to learn more about scripting and CLI etc, there are boundless resources available for them to access - I just don't think that is the point of this manual.

I don't want to open a can of worms here about the whole CLI vs GUI debate as this isn't the place, and I know lots of people have strong opinions on this. I guess the question is, should being comfortable with the CLI be a pre-requisite for someone to learn and become comfortable using Ubuntu effectively? Surely there is a place in linux/ubuntu for the average joe's wife that just wants to know how to install the operating system, surf the net, chat to people, and watch videos etc, and I think Ubuntu has progressed to a point now where this can largely be done sans-CLI.

Anyway that's where I see the first part of this manual heading, with a gentle introduction to the CLI later on.

Benjamin - I agree that sticking with 10 chapters is a good idea, so it stays user-friendly, light and accessible. Perhaps we can incorporate some of Ilya's ideas into the existing 10 chapters as you suggested?