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Sun Microsystems Books Media Operating Systems Software Unix Book Reviews

Solaris 9 For Dummies 328

Posted by timothy from the built-in-joke dept.
Spencerian writes with a review combining two things you might not expect in one volume: the "For Dummies" label and Sun Solaris. (Raise your hand if you've never, ever looked through a "For Dummies" book.) Read on for Spencerian's summary of Solaris 9 For Dummies, which he says is a good book for the Solaris newbies, but not for everyone.
Solaris 9 For Dummies
author Dave Taylor
pages 354
publisher Wiley Publishing
rating 8
reviewer Kevin Spencer
ISBN 0764539698
summary A" ...For Dummies" book like Solaris 9 For Dummies will never make you popular with other geeks. However, if you are a Solaris admin, perhaps giving this book to your users might stop them from asking you the same questions over and over.

I'm pretty intimate with the ...For Dummies book formula. I worked at the company a few years ago. The ownership of the book series has changed a bit, as has its cover art, but the basic setup remains.

Solaris 9 For Dummies is, as with many ...For Dummies books, a starter guide and reference. This isn't a book for administrators, and says so. Solaris 9 For Dummies maintains the book series' reputation as strong general references for users who are thrust (sometimes unwillingly) into new or different technology and need the basics in getting around, fast.

Author Dave Taylor is no stranger to UNIX, having written several notable UNIX beginner, intermediate and advanced references on UNIX in general, including books on Red Hat Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X. Solaris 9 For Dummies works for SPARC hardware as well as Intel-based hardware. More about Dave Taylor's work can be found at his web site, Intuitive.com.

The ...For Dummies series books are pure references. They aren't meant to be read from cover to cover, which gives the author an advantage by writing topics and chapters without a lot of preamble. The information is just shallow enough to understand but never trivial, giving readers typically only what they require. The typical cross-references and tips are available to guide you along. Chapters delve into topics you expect from discussing a UNIX such as Solaris, such as moving about the new GNOME interface (which will replace the old CDE interface over time), running the basic applications and utilities, and the like. In the traditional format of these books, Solaris 9 For Dummies comes with a tear-out cheat sheet. This cheat sheet gives readers a basic CDE and GNOME interface menu command tree to make it easily to find, say, the Empty Trash command.

The book's topics include details on:

  • File management
  • Making a decent password
  • Shells
  • Text editors
  • Using Writer and StarOffice
  • Internet, Web, and Mail access
  • Essential system administration
The author knows that UNIX isn't UNIX without a certain level of geekspeak, and so provides readers with a well-crafted introduction in the use of command lines and how they can be a Good Thing when using Solaris often for particular tasks. Many UNIX writers (especially developers) wrongly assume that anyone who uses a UNIX knows where and how to find or do what most might consider a routine task. In a ...For Dummies book, this thinking is not allowed, so the author adds enough background for you to get the gist, guides you on the essentials, and provides information that points you to find more complex answers elsewhere.

Solaris 9 For Dummies will not make your whites brighter, increase your personal intimate pleasure, or bring peace to the Middle East, and it's certainly not flashy. It's just a good book for the Solaris newbies, plain and simple. If you hack your kernel just for pleasure (gotta shave your palms regularly, I'm sure), you can be reasonably guaranteed this isn't the book for you. However, if you are an Solaris administrator and get plagued with user questions about basic tasks, maybe you should have your boss buy a few copies of Solaris 9 For Dummies for your users so you can continue your Quake3 fragfest uninterrupted.

You can purchase Solaris 9 For Dummies from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Solaris 9 For Dummies

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  • Oximoron (Score:3, Funny)

    by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:47PM (#6572171) Journal
    or Redundant?

  • First intro book to Solaris (Score:3, Interesting)

    by kevin_conaway ( 585204 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:48PM (#6572181) Homepage
    Hmm.. when I first started to learn how to use Solaris, Im sure I would have like a book like this. I could never find (and still probably cannot) find an introductory book to Solaris.

  • SCO for dummies (Score:5, Funny)

    by Virtex ( 2914 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:49PM (#6572197)
    SCO for dummies: No, not the name of a book. Just making a statement

  • The burning question... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Nick of NSTime ( 597712 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:53PM (#6572231)
    Why? Is there really a need for a Dummies book about Solaris? It's not like you can just walk into CompUSA and pick up Solaris 9. How does Wiley market a book like this?

    We have some Solaris users where I work, but all they do is run their applications. They're not power users, and they don't want to be power users. I guess I'm just having a hard time understanding the intended audience for this book.

    • Agreed.

      Additionally, the office where I work still runs with Solaris 5.8 and they see no reason to upgrade (I don't know enough about the benefits of upgrading Solaris). One of the reasons they cited was cost, so they're staying with 5.8 for the time being.

      At this point, a Solaris 9 book would cater only to those few that actually upgraded to that version (Few? Maybe there's many but I'm just guessing), and it's likely that they are power users/administrators and not some "dummy".

      -Cyc
      • Solaris 8, you young kids and your fancy tools, the development environment I spend my day in is 2.6, and my company has no plans of changing. Its more of a stability issue than anything. With new versions come new compatibility problems, and the question of supporting old program under a new OS. Upgrading a large commercial Unix system with 3rd party compilers and tools can be quite expensive. The biggest expense isn't the software so much, as the time lost due to tools not being available. The curren
        • > frankly I'd be scared if our admins tried to upgrade it to even 8

          Well, when I was a Solaris admin, it was my first serious UNIX work (work as in job, not as in "playing with Linux") and I had to upgrade from 2.6 to 8 and I had almost no troubles at all -- it's easy as pie. Assuming you know what all the software does, where to download it, how to reinstall it, and how to reconfigure every damn conf file that no longer works because of version incompatibility. But really, most of it was smooth excep
        • the development environment I spend my day in is 2.6, and my company has no plans of changing

          ...which is great, as long as your customers don't mind running a "Vintage Stage II" operating system, that no longer receives patch support from Sun!

    • I think a reasonable candidate for reading this book might be someone who is fairly technically advanced in Windows, but has yet to be exposed to much of Unix/Linux. While it is true that they could just as easily go the route of learning Linux via Red Hat, Mandrake or some other distro, some users might prefer to go with a more 'truer' Unix distro.

      A good example, might be a developer at a software company that makes enterprise software, but only runs on Windows so far. The company might want to try porti

    • Re:The burning question... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by no soup for you ( 607826 ) <<jesse.wolgamott> <at> <gmail.com>> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:01PM (#6572311) Homepage
      Why? Is there really a need for a Dummies book about Solaris? It's not like you can just walk into CompUSA and pick up Solaris 9. How does Wiley market a book like this?

      I'm a perfect audience for this book. I installed our linux servers here, and am in charge of having a plan in case of the worst possible scenario -- SCO forces "the man" to have me remove gnu/linux from our company

      All of our services claim they will run on Solaris for x86, which is free on 1 processor machines... So, my exit strategy involves migrating to Solaris.

      So, I think this would be a good book to tell me what are the glaring differences. It won't be the best, or last book I'd buy, but it would probably be the first.

    • "We have some Solaris users where I work, but all they do is run their applications. They're not power users, and they don't want to be power users"

      This would be the market for such a book.

      KFG
    • The answer is simple: you have a captive audience, since all Solaris users will need this book. Hence:

      1) Write the book
      2) Publish it
      3) Profit!

      The joke is in the name.

    • CompUSA won't likely have it, but there are several Barnes & Nobles booksellers in major markets that would carry it. That's where you'll find the consumers like me who aren't techies, but still have specialized computing needs. I'm a Windows power user myself, but I used to use Solaris for work.

      Does anyone know much about Solaris 9? Years ago when I wanted to take my work home with me, I picked up the free Solaris 7 release for Intel that SUN mailed out. It couldn't handle my hardware then. Does 9 e

  • Solaris 9 (Score:2, Troll)

    by sstory ( 538486 )
    I would love to try Solaris on x86, but I don't know if a couple essential programs are available. Are there many companies which offer their products for x86 solaris? Mathematica, for instance, is essential. Though I've tried everything from BeOS to Mandrake to Win2k (my fave), I can't use an operating system which has a weak selection of apps.

    • Re:Solaris 9 (Score:4, Informative)

      by grendel_x86 ( 659437 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:19PM (#6572497) Homepage
      The best part of Solaris 9 is that it will run all progs for Linux natively w/o recompile. So if you run Solaris x86, you can take progs for x86 Linux distros, and run them.

      Many people don't like Solaris because of it not being free, and they don't understand it. Remember, it is probably the most developed *nix. It is far more stable than Linux.

      The reason they switched to GNOME is because they wanted to have a common look and feel to the *nix family, and now that they are using it, will probably help develop it to a point where it is as easy to configure as some of the other ones.

      I agree with you about M$ windows being good w/ app availability, but you have to consider its purpose, hard-core data processing, and the web. I personally run winXP pro (striped down) and Mandrake 9. I have played w/ Solaris quite a bit, and when I get money, will get a Blade 150 [sun.com] or Blade 2k [sun.com].

      • Re:Solaris 9 (Score:5, Insightful)

        by sys$manager ( 25156 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:26PM (#6572558)
        I'm surprised someone on /. is willing to realize and admit that Solaris is more stable than Linux. It's faster too. I've done side-by-side benchmarks of single-cpu Sun boxes vs. dual-cpu Dell boxes running Linux and the Sun boxes won every time.
        • next time, use similiar suystems, sheesh. Dual procs can slow a system and.or and app down.
        • I've done side-by-side benchmarks of single-cpu Sun boxes vs. dual-cpu Dell boxes running Linux and the Sun boxes won every time.

          I'm a Sun fan, but I am also skeptical of your claim. For very small and CPU-intensive applications, the Dell boxes might win. Any program that taxes I/O should probably do better on the Suns, however (just keep slapping in more PCI SCSI or network controllers into the Suns). Any highly-parallelizable program would probably do better on Suns in SMP mode (if you can afford 106
        • Faster at what? What kinda boxes are we talking? Can you at least make up some numbers?
        • Um, how about doing a valid comparison? Like getting 2 dual-proc Dell machines that are identically configured, and putting (say) Gentoo linux on one and Solaris 9 on the other.

          Then let them race.

          Nathan
      • didn't know that about the ability to run linux apps. That's really cool. Most everything I need is availible for linux.
    • Have you checked your Mathematica CD? It has a directory called "Unix", and under that you can find subdirectory called Linux, Solaris, Irix and others.

  • Rethink the title (Score:3, Insightful)

    by cK-Gunslinger ( 443452 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:56PM (#6572263) Journal
    I mean, "... for Dummies" may be ok for:

    Win95
    Losing weight
    Yoga
    etc...

    But releasing books under that title will *not* attract the type of people this book is aimed at. (As mentioned in the summary, how many of you read "Dummies" books) They are working purely on brand recognition, but in this case, I think that's a bad idea. How about "Beginner's Guide to Solaris" instead?
    • I wonder how many people will pick up this book thinking it has something to do with the similarly titled movie [imdb.com].
    • Up next on Slashdot Book Reviews:

      z/OS for Dummies
      Plan9 for Dummies
      CP/M for Dummies
      ASM for Dummies
      Distributed Computing for Dummies
      Nuclear Engineering for Dummies

      and the other extreme:

      Hello World for Advanced Kernel Hackers
    • That book isn't aimed at us. It's aimed at a non-computer-oriented user in a Solaris environment.

      Everyone is a "Dummy" (in a light, humorously self-deprecating sense of the term) in some field or other. People who recognize that are often more successful than people who can't admit their own limitations. Few things are as irritating as "male answer syndrome," as they describe it on Car Talk.

      I think the "... for Dummies" book series success speaks for itself.

      • That book isn't aimed at us. It's aimed at a non-computer-oriented user in a Solaris environment.

        Exactly. And can you describe the details of that typical scenario? I'm pretty sure it's not "Jane Doe wants to do some work on her husband's computer, but he's running Solaris 9. So she buys a Dummies book to learn her way around." More than likely, this takes place in a corporate environment, where some users are thrust into Solaris. If so, why not change the title of the book to something a little l

        • There are thousands of possible situations where this is likely. Want me to list a few?

          Software localizers. Graphical artists. Technical writers/documenters. Editors and layout specialists. Architects working in large firms. Chemical engineers.

          There are sooooooo many more job titles in the world than "programmer" and "manager," despite the incredible, mind-boggling myopia you see on Slashdot. All these people probably know a couple applications with incredible fluency, but may well not know how to get aro
          • So you are arguing that these people *want* a book entitled "... for Dummies" and are more likely to purchase it, as opposed to something more tactful? Cause that's really what my original post was all about. Nothing more.
            • Like I said, the series seems to be doing well. I know a neuroscientist who has a couple "for Dummies" books for computers (I think it's a Windows 2000 Server for dummies and something else). She's secure enough in her intelligence that she's willing to "reserve" it for what matters, and doesn't mind a bit of hand-holding for things that don't matter if it means she can get going more quickly.

    • But releasing books under that title will *not* attract the type of people this book is aimed at. [snip] They are working purely on brand recognition, but in this case, I think that's a bad idea. How about "Beginner's Guide to Solaris" instead?

      I think you're too hard on the Dummies series. Remember that you shall not judge a book by it's cover (a cheap pun, I know, but it was intended). Maybe the title will, as you say, alienate some potential readers, but my personal experience with the book series is

  • It's hard to imagine that there are that many people that are going to need a book like this. Perhaps a Windoze IT person whose shop is getting some Solaris box's? Sounds like anyone who is coming from a Unix IT background already would find this book useless, and the number of "average" joes who know very little about *nix but are getting Solaris boxen has to be pretty small. Definitely a niche product. I guess this is just an outcome of the fact that the "For Dummies" publisher is trying to cover ever

  • Scary sitting on a shelf (Score:5, Funny)

    by petronivs ( 633683 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:57PM (#6572268) Journal

    I've got to say, if I walk into a server room and see a 'For Dummies' book sitting on a shelf, I'll be scared.

    Very scared.

    • Re:Scary sitting on a shelf (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sys$manager ( 25156 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:18PM (#6572492)
      I'm the Unix administrator and I have a "for Dummies" book sitting on my shelf.

      It's there because I wrote it.
    • Had a very similar experience when doing some programming for a local database shop. Big server meltdown, possible data loss, and I hear the head software architect going through the halls asking for his Oracle for Dummies book. To this day I hope he was just fucking with everybody, but I was too scared to ask.
    • I walked into my former IT Director's office once and saw "Windows95 for Dummies" sitting on her desk. Quite disturbing considering she was responsible for the technological direction of a Fortune 100 company.

      A few days later she made the decision that we would "standardize" on Windows. All other platforms would be eliminated.

      The book stayed on her desk for several weeks until I moved on to another job. If the company hadn't been bought there would probably be a "Windows XP for Dummies" on her desk rig
    • Yeah. God forbid we find out the Network Administrators are people who often want an introduction to something rather than jumping headlong into it.

      I don't have enough time to fully understand the details of database programming, so you aren't going to find books and books on the topic on my shelf. But, if I'm running an SQL server for the database guys, wouldn't it make you happy to see "SQL for Dummies" on my bookshelf? It's a quick, basic introduction. You have to start somewhere.

      Even if you don't plan

  • UNIX for Dummies (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ih8apple ( 607271 )
    If it's really so basic, as the reviewer says, and covers simple *nix topics, then what is the difference between this book and Unix for Dummies [amazon.com]? I'm guessing the answer is nothing.

    Look at the basic topics: File management; Making a decent password; Shells; Text editors; Using Writer and StarOffice; Internet, Web, and Mail access; and Essential system administration. Are any of these *really* solaris specific or different for any other *nix?
  • Say that an enterprise OS would be "dummy compliant". After all, if you can afford some real sun hardware, you can easily afford classes.

    It's just like Linux (structure and ideas) but using a bit different commands and flags.

    Really, I'd prefer a books like that which has more meat (command list, common flags) along with SUN only stuff. How to use a GUI or text editor is about the same on all platforms.

  • for Dummies (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Jason1729 ( 561790 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @12:58PM (#6572285)
    Why do people buy books that claim to be aimed at dummies? Just because you're a novice doesn't mean you're a dummy. The computer books are also very condescending, the tone of them is talking down to the reader. The Sams TY series are much better for new users.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
    • Why do people buy books that claim to be aimed at dummies?

      One of my theories is that it appeals to non geeks, because they often feel stupid when dealing with computers, and I'm fairly sure the "for Dummies" series began with computer topics.

      It was a bit hard to get used to buying ... for Dummies books, but I got over the stigma. However I never could bring myself to buy a "Complete Idiot" book. Sorry, I can't go that far. Then there would be "effing dumbass" books, and we just can't have that.

      Way back
    • because, unlike you, some people have a sence of humor?
  • My favorite new game - guess which one is NOT a Dummies title:

    1. Retired Racing Greyhounds For Dummies
    2. Beekeeping For Dummies
    3. U.S. Citizenship For Dummies
    4. AOL For Dummies
    5. Business Plans For Dummies

  • >If you hack your kernel just for pleasure (gotta shave your palms regularly, I'm sure),

    Shave your palms on a regular basis?!?!?

    (The whole maturbation/growing hair on your palms just an urban myth, but I still don't get the slang.)

  • Other titles to boggle the mind (Score:5, Funny)

    by D0wnsp0ut ( 321316 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:00PM (#6572308) Homepage Journal

    two things you might not expect in one volume: the "For Dummies" label and Sun Solaris.

    Actually, book titles I thought I'd never see:

    • Macs for Dummies
    • The Complete Idiots Guide to Mac OS X

  • Dummies are Good. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RealisticWeb.com ( 557454 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:01PM (#6572318) Homepage
    if you are an Solaris administrator and get plagued with user questions about basic tasks, maybe you should have your boss buy a few copies of Solaris 9 For Dummies for your users

    Think about this sentance before you start flaming the dummies books. The author caught the main point right there. I would never buy this book for myself but it sounds like a great thing to buy for other users at my company. I am a UNIX sysadmin, but we don't have any Solaris boxen. If we ever did get one, I feel confident that some man pages, the dead tree manual and some message boards would be enough for me to hack my way through the Solaris caveats, but I would rather eat rocks then set up a training session when I would have to teach middle management how to use the system. If I was forced to do just that, I would probably have them each get a copy of this book as the take home material.

    Don't discount the Dummies books, they are a good thing (tm), if not for everyone.

  • begin sarcasm..

    Solaris For Dummies.. one line summary.. drum roll please..

    "Don't use it"

    Thank you.. thank you.. I'll be here all week. Please make sure you tip the waitstaff on your way out.

    end sarcasm...

  • However, if you are an Solaris administrator and get plagued with user questions about basic tasks, maybe you should have your boss buy a few copies of Solaris 9 For Dummies for your users so you can continue your Quake3 fragfest uninterrupted.

    I didn't know Quake 3 ran on Solaris!

    • Well, Quake 3 runs under Linux, and Solaris (like the *BSDs) has a Linux binary compatibility layer, so it should work on Solaris x86. I doubt it would run on Solaris on SPARC hardware though (at least not at a playable speed).
  • http://www.teachmesun.com

    probably just as good

  • Dummies books quite good (Score:4, Informative)

    by jdavidb ( 449077 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:12PM (#6572432) Homepage Journal

    I have actually learned recently that the for Dummies books seem to be quite good. The Personal Finance for Dummies book I bought is one of the most highly recommended books on the subject. Dummies books are apparently published by the people who do Cliff's Notes, and I always found those handy, too. (Of course, I was one of those weirdos who read the book and then read the Cliff's Notes...)

    I haven't used many of the computer-related Dummies books (the C one I looked at years ago looked awful, but I'm sure it's been through six revisions by now) but for other subjects I know little about but need a good introduction, they seem very good. I'm planning on getting Automotive Repair for Dummies (or whatever they call it) sometime soon.

    Some of the Idiot's guides also seem to be pretty good, but more of them seem to be misses.

  • I realize the "For Dummies"/"Idiots Guide To" is very popular, but it's going too far, Solaris is hardly for dummies, but other topics come readily to mind as well:

    For instance, I have seen:

    WWII for Dummies (isn't that what grade school is for?)
    Yoga for Dummies (hmmm...Paging Doctor Kildare!)
    The Idiots Guide to Sex (perhaps populat on /.)
    and my favorite one:

    The Idiots Guide to the Mafia (as if you'd have to be anything else to be in the Mob)

  • C++ for Dummies (Score:5, Informative)

    by swtaarrs ( 640506 ) <swtaarrs AT comcast DOT net> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:23PM (#6572531)
    The most useful Dummies book I've read is C++ for dummies. I am an experienced C programmer, and I wanted to learn C++. The C++ for Dummies book was designed for people like me, and it was the perfect book for the job. It had very clear explanations of all the new features, especially classes. What I liked most about the book was that it managed to stay clear and very understandable without making me feel like the author assumed I was an idiot. In many cases dummies books are also perfect as quick reference manuals on a subject, and many advanced programmers I know use them often. For those of you who sneer at dummies books, you may want to rethink your attitude and take a serious look at a couple of them.
    • Though labeling a book 'for dummies' will encourage a lot of people to purchase it who are scared of the other titles, you will inevitably get a backlash from people who are confident of their ability to understand and want a hardcore learning tool/reference. I don't think any self-respecting geek should be expected to give these books a chance, nor do I think they offer anything that can't be had elsewhere. Not that I think they're bad books per se, just that I would never buy one.

  • Next From Wiley Publishing (Score:5, Funny)

    by Lord_Slepnir ( 585350 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @01:33PM (#6572609) Journal
    Look out for thse up-and-coming titles from Wiley Publishing:
    • Managing your multinational corporation for Dummies
    • Nuclear Engineering for Dummies (available in Arabic and Korean)
    • Assembly programing for Dummies
    • Genetic Engineering for Dummies
    • the Federal Budget for Dummies
  • Sun's latest revenues show a company cut off at the knees. The Sparc architecture is essentially dead in the eyes of the market. Solaris has little new adoption or new mindshare.

    This company is in big trouble and trash-talking Scott McNealy's act is getting very old. Some advice:

    1. Fire McNealy. Sun can never go forward while this dinosaur of the software wars is in the chair. Thanks for the memories Scott, but Sun lost the war.

    2. Get out of the hardware business. Sun hardware is not coming back. Ever. Se

  • you need to get a sense of humor, really.
    They manage to make ,what can be very boring subjects reasonably entertaining, or at least keep you busy.
    For the person sitting down to a command prompt for the first time, a Dummies book can really get you going, and let you know the basics of how to get more information with man page examples.

    Now I was at a company who hired a contractor to do some work, and he showed up with a new dummies book and spent a day going through the book. Now THAT pissed me off, but th
  • was a pretty good book. I don't know which version I bought but it made me the UNIX man I am today....

    hmmm, maybe that isn't the ringing endorsement I thought it would be.

  • rating: 8...problems with 1-10 scales (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JimBobJoe ( 2758 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @05:19PM (#6574900)
    This is an observation, but I have to wonder what a rating of 8 means (for this book.)

    The reason is, individuals have their own ideas of where their 1-10 scales are centered. There are some people who center truly center the scales at 5, meaning that an 8 is a relatively good score. Some center them much higher, like in the 7 range, meaning that they give high numbers to absolutely everything. For myself, I center my scale relatively lowly...meaning that I never given a 10 for anything, a 9 is damn hard to come by, and a 5 is a relatively good score coming from me (I've described 3 as "ok" which pretty much makes 3 the center of my 1-10 scale.) This of course would imply that the spacing along a scale not on 5 is not geometric...but may be logarithmic.

    It's a random thought off the top of my head...but I guess I'm saying that I dont think that 1-10 scales are really a good way of expressing opinion without knowing how that individual uses that scale.

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