[olug] Unix Tip: GET YOUR IP-ADDRESS

[Sam Tetherow]

Sorry, I was not very clear in my sarcasm ;)  But I do find it 
interesting when people talk about linux not being for Mom and Pop when 
it seems (to me atleast) that Windows really isn't that user friendly 
and it pretty counter intuitive.  It could just be my jaded viewpoint, 
but I find even some of the simplest tasks complicated under the various 
flavors of Windows, not to mention the fact that things keep moving 
around with each release.  This isn't a flame against Windows per se, 
but when people talk about Linux being not very user friendly I find it 
odd given that I haven't found Windows since about 98 to be all that 
user friendly either.

In terms of the original email (from the tip list) I think they should 
have described it as getting the ip address for a script instead of just 
stating 'at the command line' since who in there right mind would type 
the whole thing out just to figure out what their ip address is?

William E. Kempf wrote:
> Sam Tetherow said:
> 
>>What would Mom and Pop really need to know their ip address for?
> 
> 
> Tech support asks?
> 
> 
>>So what is the 'simple' way to get your ip address under windows?
> 
> 
> ipconfig.
> 
> But I think you misunderstood what I said.  Mom and Pop don't have a
> problem because things are difficult on Linux, per se (though there ARE
> things that are too complex for them, and it's probably that way for the
> very reason I'm trying to point out here).  After all, ifconfig gives them
> the info nearly as easily as ipconfig (there's less technical "static" in
> ipconfigs output, but that's neither good or bad by itself).  No, my point
> was that Linux users typically (not a universal axiom... I'm not trying to
> paint with too wide a brush) consider things that they do on a day to day
> basis as a "power user" to be simple.  The code given was anything but
> simple for a non-technical person.  You and I could easily figure out what
> it meant... heck, we both probably do the same sort of thing at least 3
> times a day (I even do the same sort of thing just as frequently on
> Windows, btw).  But we're not in the same category as Mom and Pop.
>