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Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2001 14:37:37 -0700
To: will AT siteaboutnothing DOT com, "cygwin AT cygwin DOT com" <cygwin AT cygwin DOT com>
From: Randall R Schulz <rrschulz AT cris DOT com>
Subject: Re: Documentation for Windows users
In-Reply-To: <200107012101.f61L1tA17533@franklin.concentric.net>
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Will,

Yes, you are mostly missing the point. These tools are for people who want 
the virtues of the GNU tools and a Unix-like programming and computing 
environment and who, for various reasons, must use Windows. Quite apart 
from the debate about the virtue of IDE-hosted programming, what you 
suggest is just not what Cygwin is about.

I must wonder, what you expect in the way of usability by people "with no 
knowledge of Unix systems." Whether you were using Linux or FreeBSD or some 
such, you'd face the same learning curve for these tools. One the other 
hand, regardless of where you learn them, the knowledge transfers almost 
entirely to other environments that host these tools.

All that said, the usual rejoinder applies: If you want it and can write it 
and _do_ write it and contribute it, you will have it and lots of other 
will have it, too.

Recent postings have examined the kinds of users and their needs and 
expectations. Read the postings under the thread ``"shouted down", "shot 
down", apologies''.

A GUI for gcc. I shudder.

Randall Schulz


At 15:05 2001-07-01, Will Sheppard wrote:
>Why doesn't the Cygwin installation put a readme file in its root 
>directory, directing users to the documentation on the website? Or even 
>better - actually install the documentation in a format easily acessible 
>to people who have only used Windows their whole lives.
>
>This seems to be a problem affecting most ports of software to Windows - 
>the binaries are there, but not usable by people with no knowledge of Unix 
>systems.
>
>Also, would it really be that difficult to include a GUI to some of these 
>programs, such as the C compiler? It really would make them so much easier 
>to use for Windows users. Surely the ultimate OS would combine the power 
>and stability of Unix with the user-interface of Windows...
>
>Or am I totally missing the point here?
>
>- Will Sheppard


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