Graphical boot isn't so graphical

[Alan Cox]

> Sorry, but this is a definite case of "dummying down" and borders on a
> specious argument. What will be the first thing a support person asks a
> newbie stuck on a boot to do? "Hit CTRL-ALT-F1, please, and tell me what
> it says." Despite your argument that it is a usability issue, it really 
> amounts to coders defending the impressiveness of their work. Show me
> how a newbie user "uses" the bootup and I might agree with you.

More likely "boot with nogui" because its easier for the user and it works
if the box hangs which ctrl-alt-f1 might not. If you look at real studies
the users seem to blank the boot time. Its "I turned it on, it did the 
weird shit and then it started" stuff.

Tech support calls for PC companies regularly include such gems as 
"Help I'm lost in the cosmos"  [hit delete during boot and is confused as
hell what is going on]. Messages about IDE0 DMA settings mean about as much
to most users as a screenful of boot diagnostics on a TV or when starting
the car would to most computing people.

Users do need clear messages for failures, but they often can't tell the
failure from the corrected from the normal. I've actually been changing some
of the kernel messages because users faced with lots of our "The kernel
found your bios settings were horked and fixed it" messages didn't have
the technical PC internals knowledge to tell it from a problem case.

Name one other household appliance that spews technical diagnostics when
you turn it on and it is working properly ?