Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!PA.DEC.COM!mwm From: mwm@PA.DEC.COM (Mike Meyer, My Watch Has Windows) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: GUIs vs. Command line options (Was: Virtual Manipulation) Message-ID: <9106041831.AA22039@fenris.pa.dec.com> Date: 4 Jun 91 18:31:19 GMT References: <1991Jun3.204619.4949@rodan.acs.syr.edu> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Distribution: world Organization: The Internet Lines: 17 >> No.. it's the multitude of options for each command that's a pain. >> When you have to know 4 or 5 different command-line-based systems >> and all the commands and options in them, and when a mistake destroys >> someone else's work, then you find yourself checking manuals every >> time you use an option. a GUI simply doesn't have this problem. You're right - A GUI doesn't have these problems. Neither does A CLI. The problems occur when you start using several of them on a regular basis. GUIs aren't immune to mistakes that can destroy someone's work, and the actions you use in one might be just that kind of mistake in another. A GUI provides a level of standardization to some common operations - if the app developers didn't circumvent them. A CLI support system can do the same thing; they just aren't very common.