Re: [Groff] Introduction

[Ted Harding]

On 19-Oct-05 Miklos Somogyi wrote:
> [...]
> If troff and Co is to survive,  then changes are necessary.
> No use to tell managers to lean on engineers to use proper tools.
> They would rather lean on someone who wants something else,
> not a PC.
> 
> To close it with an appropriate joke:
> 
> The Zen master bought a $2 hot dog and paid with a $10 bill.
> He was waiting and waiting for his $8. The vendor looked-up
> and realized what was going on in his mind, but said to him:
> 
> Hey, you are a Zen master. You know that change must come
> from within...
> 
> Miklos

Very good, Miklos!

I have to sadly agree with the assessment of the practical
situation. What computers "can do" is nowadays defined, for
the vast majority of users (maybe over 95%) by what has been
wrapped in the GUI by the GUI designer (as well, of course,
as by the intrinsic limitations of the underlying software).

It is like what is also a reasonable approximation to real
life: that the places you can be at are those that you can
reach in a motor car, and your diet is what you can take
off the racks in a motorway service station. And you only
rarely walk.

Leaving only the mad fringe who go out and climb mountains,
sail boats, catch their own fish, grow and cook their own
food, ...

Regarding the use of keyboard/command-line versus mouse/GUI,
I close in turn with a joke (not mine, though: it was said
by Charles Curran of the UK Unix User Group)

  "I can touch-type, but I cannot touch-mouse"

Best wishes to all,
Ted.


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Date: 19-Oct-05                                       Time: 09:43:06
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