>> Windows, on the other hand, has always been designed around the idea 
>> that the user doesn't know anything about computers and needs to be 
>> shielded from anything more complicated than a lightswitch. Which is 
>> sometimes quite frustrating, in a different way...
> 
> What that really means is that there are GUIs for all the n00b-level 
> options and if there isn't, the Windows n00b will have to mess around 
> with the arcane registry or RTFM for the first time in his life.

The things that require you to touch the registry are so arcane that 
your average n00b wouldn't even comprehend what you're talking about. 
Stuff like changing the network MTU, or the order in which IRQs are 
assigned to PnP devices, or other such obscure stuff like that.

Usually the challenge is just figuring out which sub-sub-menu M$ has 
hidden the setting you want under. (Or just which combination of options 
makes the program behave correctly.)

> I like configuration files better than GUIs for no other reason that I 
> can simply grep it for whatever I'm looking for or remotely related -- 
> direct to the point.

I'd be surprised if that actually works.

The option you want to change might be at default, and thus there's no 
entry for it in the config file. It might have a highly non-obvious 
name. Or it might be configured from a totally different file. (E.g., 
there is [presumably] a file somewhere which configures your network 
interfaces. But the DNS configuration is in an entirely unrelated file.)

> In GUIs I have to go through a multitude of 
> recursive menus or tabs hidden well underneath other options etc...

M$ does have an annoying habit of hiding absolutely every configuration 
setting under an "advanced" tab...

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