Okay, I'll bite, on a couple points :) On Saturday, May 25, 2002, at 11:45 , Samir M. Nassar wrote: > <troll food> > I know, everything that can be done with GUI's can be done 4 times > faster and 15 times better in CLI. > </troll food> That depends. For my general position on GUI vs. CLI, see: http://archives2.real-time.com/pipermail/tclug- list/2002-January/046881.html First example: copying files. If they're in close directories ('cp ../foo .') or ones with short paths ('cp /vmlinuz ~') that's cool. But if they're buried, opening two Finder windows, browsing to the appropriate directories and dragging and dropping is quicker than typing in full paths. Second example: creating a professional-quality document. I'll leave Word out of this discussion because the only way to create a professional-quality document in Word is to beat your head against it for a really long time. Instead, consider LaTeX vs. InDesign. Which is easier? Having worked extensively with both, I can tell you, InDesign is. (Also a lot more expensive. I keep toying with the idea of writing a free (GUI) page layout program that uses TeX for a backend.) The inherent issue, as I've pointed out before, is ease of use vs. flexibility, and realistically you should have both. GUIs ask, "Can I get you a drink?" CLI lets you tell the computer, "Go get me a damn beer." And as my friend Kris pointed out, if the GUI doesn't ask and the CLI isn't there, you don't get *any* beer :) > Why spend 2000 USD if I can spend 500 and get everything that OSX has to > offer. $500 for any laptop? I've never seen a 600MHz or so class for that little. Anyway, KDE3 is really nice, but I will still make the case that OS X is better. The GUI and the OS are tightly integrated not just in implementation, but in philosophy. Many of the things that make a Unix command line so flexible (e.g. pipes and redirection) have analogs in the GUI (e.g. Services). The Fujitsu laptop that Scott pointed out does look really nice. The one major difference I noticed between it and a comparably-priced iBook is the video card: the Fujitsu has a 4MB Mobility Rage, the iBook has a 16MB Mobility RADEON. But x86 compatibility from a chip whose power requirements (and therefore heat) are significantly less than anything Intel or AMD has is a nice thing. The main reason I'm primarily using OS X over Linux on my desktop is that with Linux, I still have to tweak lots of things by hand to make it work well. My TiBook worked beautifully out of the box (as I sat in the MOA parking lot running through the initial setup assistant ;p). It's a simple, elegant set of solutions to a complex set of problems. As always, pick the right tools for the job. I still have my Linux box set up and I still use it occasionally. :) Pacem in terris / Mir / Shanti / Salaam / Heiwa Kevin R. Bullock