Date: Wed, 02 Jul 1997 04:24:13 -0700 From: "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@time.cdrom.com> To: Annelise Anderson <andrsn@andrsn.stanford.edu> Cc: Francisco Reyes <francisco@natserv.com>, FreeBSD Chat List <chat@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Why Not Make tcsh the default shell? Message-ID: <22438.867842653@time.cdrom.com> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Wed, 02 Jul 1997 03:48:46 PDT." <Pine.BSF.3.96.970702031556.4889A-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> However, new users do not know enough not to like the default; they do > not know that there is something better that is not entirely different > but merely enhanced; and they don't know enough to get whatever shell That is not a failure of the distribution ideals (e.g. keep extras like tcsh separate from the default bin dist) so much as it is a failure of feature introduction. In other words, I could bring up another dialog at some point in the installation / setup phase which said "You probably won't like the default shells, so let me tell you all about the extra, special fancy shells we also offer! [sales job elided] So, which of these many attractive shells would you like me to install for you today?" and the user would neither know nor care that the shell came out of a package vs being bundled in by default. To the user, how they get there is irrelevant just so long as the option to install new features is provided in the appropriate context. Of course, correctly determining such context and writing all the "click the start menu at any time for new feature selection" user hand-holding code which enumerates the options properly is something which takes Real Work(tm), and it's rarely through lack of vision that these sorts of mechanisms don't exist, but rather lack of time. :-( > telnet, getting the web server set up, trying to make the printer print, > maybe worrying about dot clocks, ppp, reconfiguring the kernel to get > the sound card working, etc. etc. etc., and is stuck with csh...because > ........ No one has yet to adequately automate the procedure for getting something better? :-) Jordan
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?22438.867842653>