Does Easy Usage = Lack of Functionality

[Fenrir190]

A little background, I made the full switch to Linux around 3-4 years ago now. Since then I've used (in order of longest to shortest) Fedora, Debian, Mint, Backtract 5(for a project), and Ubuntu. I LOVED fedora up until 15 came out with Gnome3 and I just couldn't get use to XFCE desktop. Due to this i went Debian which is still using Gnome2. I honestly have no issue with Debian but I feel like I'm just using it because it's "complicated to use". Right now I'm using a Live SolusOS disk to type this post and I love it. This brings me to my question of does ease of use = lack of functionality? SolusOS has been classified as a very easy operating system to use and this is not an issue really provided I don't sacrifice functionality. What do you guys think?

P.S by functionality I mean being able to easily multitask, being able to go into a terminal and just being able to do EVERYTHING I'd do with a GUI, being able to automate things with a script, having access to updated tools in repositories such as firefox etc.

edit: The reasoning behind this question is in looking at easy to use software like Windows and Gnome3(supposedly) I've noticed that if I want to do something on a lower level it's always been harder to do as I've been forced to do it on a GUI that has less functionality. I left Windows for Linux for a reason.

 

[Alpha90]

Well i do not know what you need to do with your computer. However system utilities can be replicated as GUI programs as can most programs however you might not get the full berth of options and uses that you would from the command line whether it be windows or linux.

But just because you have an easy to use GUI on top of your system does not mean that it lacks functionality; some of the functionality can be made into a GUI, some just isn't but that does not mean your system does not have functionality however you might have to access it in a different way.

 

[zanny]

Ease of use in every computing environment is inherently productivity unfriendly. And you make all the key comparisons - if you have the muscle memory, being able to run something with 3 digital key presses is an order of magnitude faster than clicking an icon on a launcher. The reason for ease of use is that when you introduce people to something new, they don't know the productive shortcuts like alt-f2 to open terminal in gnome, tab completion, vim yanking, etc. So rather than alienate new audiences with a tremendous amount of upfront learning, you want to give them something usable and let them backtrack into knowing the internals and efficiencies of everything they are given so they don't get lost / give up.

I just wish that keyboard shortcuts were more often put into the context and file menus of GUI applications. It would train people to use them more.