--- Lester Caine <lester@...> wrote:

> The 'Beginners Guide' should be able to say - Install X
> and do this and
> get a new user interested. THEN the details can be dealt
> with :)
>

I had an impression that's what the beginners guide already
did. Under Windows FB/IB seemed a no brainer since the
first time I started looking at it (around 1996). As for
Linux, it was a bit harder just a year or two ago. Now it's
just one command and the thing works like a charm.

In comparison with the original IB documentation, the
newest �Release Notes v.1.5� is excellent. Except for the
title perhaps. �Release Notes� smacks of a long list of
improvements form prior versions that are of little
interest to a beginner. I was actually surprised that such
a fine document was hidden under such a nondescript title.
I think the title should be changed.

Don't get me wrong. I am all for clear and beginner
friendly documentation. I used to be a teacher once upon a
time so I understand the value of good instructions. They
are included in "Release Notes v.1.5".

In this post my main point is that the popularity of FB
will be accelerated to a larger degree by its general
availability rather than noble attempts to perfect selected
aspects of the system�s documentation. And then of course,
there is that simple GUI thing that FB should be
distributed with. That ought to help a lot more than
another beginners guide.

In general I base my views regarding FB propaganda on the
two examples of MySQL and PG. I regard both harder to use
and set up. MySQL lack in features, while PG is still a no
go on Windows. And yet both are vastly more popular because
they are everywhere, i.e. in every major Linux distro.





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