Re: How to set up gnus email for novices with little mastery.

[Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net>]

Don Saklad <dsaklad@gnu.org> writes:

> The argument looked arrogant because the whole idea of computer
> software technology is to simplify !

No, the whole idea of computer software technology is to enable the
performance of tasks that were heretofore cumbersome or difficult.
Computers are great at repeating tasks that would drive a human nuts,
and rapidly performing time consuming calculations.

What you are talking about is actually the human interface aspect of
an operating system.  The purpose of the interface is to permit the
user to operate the software; modern GUI interfaces simplify this
dramatically but at the expense of flexibility and power.  The Unix
command line offers useful abilities that GUIs do not, for example,
but takes some actual knowledge rather than an intuitive approach.
Operating systems that allow both offer the best of both worlds.

Emacs and Gnus are not simple applications.  They are extraordinarily
powerful, arguably Gnus is the most powerful newsreader/mail client
available. Many people do not need all the power at their disposal
(I'm one of those, but I use Gnus anyway).  I think there are some
things that could be done to make it easier on newbies, but by the
same token that steep learning curve results in rapid mastery.  That's
what steep learning curves do.