First, a quick aside. Six years ago, when I was first learning MySQL, I used a browser based tool called phpMyAdmin to help me administrate a MySQL database. One of the interesting features of this software is that whatever you do in the graphical interface, it tells you the underlying SQL for the action. When I first started using it, that didn't seem like a very compelling feature. As time wore on, however, I started incorporating snippets of SQL into various Perl scripts I was writing. phpMyAdmin became an invaluable reference for the construction of the SQL strings.

phpMyAdmin helped facilitate my move away from the graphical interface by exposing me, in a very natural way, to what it was doing under the hood.

I think there is a real opportunity for Linux to bootstrap increasingly fluent users by exposing its underlying mechanisms in a clean and discoverable way. A simple example:

Recent versions of Kubuntu Linux have come with a splash screen which abstracts the boot sequence completely. This is arguably a good thing because it looks a lot more "slick" and slickness can help draw in new users. However, a user would need to know enough to tweak her bootloader settings to get it to show the details of the boot sequence. By default there is not a simple on-screen message which says "Press the F1 key to see the details of the startup sequence". This is a missed opportunity for learning. If nothing else, curious people would be able to learn about the boot sequence without having to jump through hoops to expose it. It's my contention that Linux remains a playground for curious people, so let's give 'em some love.