Loudmouthman

“This is my keyboard. There are many like it but this one is mine. My keyboard is my best friend, it is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. Without me, my keyboard is useless. Without my keyboard I am useless. I must type my keyboard true, I must type more accurately than my enemy, who is trying to shut me down. I must edit him before he edits me. I will, before God I swear this creed; my keyboard and myself are defenders of my network, we are the masters of my enemy, we are the saviors of my life. So be it, until there is no enemy, but peace. Amen.” [1]

Now this post is really for the Support people of the IT world. As I read the more interesting comments about Linux Whines on Daneil Robitailles blog or the associated Digg comments I realised that some of the issues people have with our preffered operating system relate to “having to use the keyboard” . I have to congratulate Microsoft on doing a fantastic job of underming the value of typed console commands as an interface. Since every time I open a console window the less Linux learned will have a tendency to comment.

“Oh its DOS ?”

“It must be technical if youve got to use the keyboard”

“How can you possibly remember all those commands ?”

The speculation on the part of the observer is that opening a command line window is somehow a regression, or a step back, and that a Graphical User Interface is the final arbiter in all discussions relating to an operating systems success. This stems mostly from those days of transition from DOS to Windows when , at the time, the agreed perception was that this would somehow be more powerful and more userfriendly.
In my previous post I discussed how difficult a GUI environment is to provide remote or telephone support to. The GUI is also an incredibly distracting environment for a user struggling to complete certain tasks. Administration tasks and remote support tasks were ( and still are ) far easier to carry out at the command line providing the person on the other end can read and listen well. On the other hand the dependence on GUIs and point and click interfaces can lead to modern support staff not having a clear understanding of how to use the support tools at hand, as can be seen in the example below of a support technician attempting to use Putty to create a tunnel and connect to a remote PC .

support@server: rdp
support@server: clear
support@server: 192.168.100.112
support@server: \\192.168.100.112
support@server: clear
support@server: ls
support@server: cd \\192.168.100.112\c$
support@server: cd \\192.168.100.112
support@server: clear

Its clear from talking to the individual that the knowledge of using a console has atrophied badly and excuses like ” I was trying various SSH commands” highlighted that he was actually out of his depth technically and it became clear when he commented how he doesnt like to use DOS. In the minds of so many potential new users the console is DOS and DOS is old this together must mean something is worse not better.
So can we reclaim the keyboard and the console as a flexible and useful tool for the modern system administrator and technical support person ? How do we educate our peers in the IT field that the command line holds much power, and as much responsibility and that it offers freedoms and opportunities not really experienced in a world constrained by a GUI ?
Certainly one of the strengths linux provides me and my clients is the reduced time it takes to login, manage, edit and respond to a series of servers from many sites and locations without the need to install remote support software ( outside of putty which travels on my usb stick ) . Attempting to remote manage multiple desktops via a gui ,let alone multiple servers, requires more effort and the subsequent bandwidth utilised often slows down the same transactions. However the idea is still firmly held that graphics is better than text and its a opinion I would like to change.
I would be interested in hearing more examples of where and when GUI or Command line has been more relevant or more useful to a either a End user or a Support person, I have my own tales and experiences but it would be interesting to hear others.
[1] Borrowing badly from Stanley Kubricks Classic [ Full Metal Jacket ] .

Do you know what the difference is between clicking and running an application icon from the Menu and Clicking ( possibly double clicking ) an application icon on the desktop ? The technically proficient among you will realise that there is possibly no difference if the icon on the desktop represnts the same shortcut as the icon in the menu. To a end user however the difference is somewhere between fear and misunderstanding and the general belief is that they must always do the same thing every time to ensure they are doing it correctly. Is it not ironic then that we built computers to do the same repetitive tasks continuously and ended up training a large mass of users to do exactly the same thing.

I get exactly the same issue when helping a client through a particular task. I will have successfully walked them through the process of opening an application ( usually from the desktop short cut ) and they will have managed to click on tools, then Account Settings and opened the relevant window. Now I will ask them to click on Server Settings and usually at this point the self doubt of the user has set in and I will be asked “left click or right click ?”. For no clear reason that I can appreciate the user has successfully left clicked all the way through to this place and then at the last moment the final click that I require they will loose all focus and suddenly resort to double checking all instructions.

It is not their fault though  and whilst I can understand the need that the support community has to vent its frustrations about “end users”  I have not found any another industry where this goes on so blatantly and so publically. Indeed just reading a current Digg article about 9 The Things Non Tech Savvy Do to annoy a support person it is no suprise that sometimes the people who look to me for help  seem to walk on egg shells when talking to me. It appears to be an expectation from an end users perspective that the more technically competent you are the more entitled you are to be arrogant or impatient or just outright obnoxious towards anyone who does meet your technical standards of delivery or understanding. This is not restricted to the end user ‘non tech savvy’ community alone though, I have been on the receiving end of  what I can describe as bullying and aggressive attitudes usually from people whose own full-time jobs ensconce and protect them from the realities of their attitudes and actions

It is clear from the frustrations above  that the interface which millions of end users have access to today is failing them and in the long term it is  failing us. The interface is not making tasks easier and its not helping users to help themselves, and lets not even consider  Clippy in this instance.  If there was one thing I would ask developers of all GUI based products to consider it would be some form of Navigation indicator. A keyboard short cut, such as Pressing F11, which then opens a big blank screen and asks the user the enter the term they are searching for such as “Address bar” , or “Tools” , or “Account Settings”. It needs to be a big blank window with a large flashing cursor and no mouse cursor because end users do not want clutter when searching for things which is why they tend to only use the desktop as an interface. The result of entering that Search term and pressing Enter would be for the desktop to highlight, flash or otherwise indicate the item in question and place the users mouse and cursor on the relevant windowed item. The end result should be to help the users learn the terms for themselves as a sort of  reverse tooltip. Something which made it easy for me to help users learn where there task bar was would be a boon for productivity when they are reading an instruction sheet and have to stop to ask what is a ‘task bar’.  Though This is hardly a specification or official upstream request and im sure many will critically explain to me why its a bad idea I would ask them to spend a month in my shoes or the shoes of any support individual who answers directly to the end users experience.

Thanks for reading, im off to add a shortcut to another desktop!