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Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 00:20:43 -0700
From: Val Henson <val@nmt.edu>
To: Miles Bader <miles@gnu.org>
Cc: dpaun@rogers.com, rms@gnu.org, lm@bitmover.com, acahalan@cs.uml.edu,
       linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: "Mother" == "computer-illiterate"
Message-ID: <20030109072043.GE26010@boardwalk>
References: <200301050802.h0582u4214558@saturn.cs.uml.edu> <20030106173705.GP1386@work.bitmover.com> <E18Vtxy-0002c2-00@fencepost.gnu.org> <200301071118.41059.dpaun@rogers.com> <buofzs474ro.fsf@mcspd15.ucom.lsi.nec.co.jp>
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On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 11:29:47AM +0900, Miles Bader wrote:
> 
> If someone's mom (having heard the gossip) asks their computer-literate
> child, `What is this XXX thing, anyway?', the answer is likely to be
> very different when XXX is "GNU" as opposed to when XXX is "Linux".

How come no one ever talks about a Linux distribution so easy that
your grandfather could install it?  Or a kernel configuration tool so
simple that even Uncle Timmy can use it?

Can we quit with the "clueless mother" examples already?  My own
mother has installed more distributions of Linux than I've even logged
into.  I know quite a few mothers who have PhDs in CS, own several
CS-related patents, and/or made important fundamental discoveries in
CS.  Hint: Find out who invented the spanning tree algorithm for
ethernet bridges, $10 ThinkGeek gift certificate to the first person
who emails me the correct answer.

-VAL