Is it just me or having GUI elements inside a terminal feels wrong ?
Terminal emulator is, in fact, a GUI application, it's just that it mostly consists of a single text matrix widget. I believe many people use mouse to select text, so I don't think there's anything wrong if the text is somehow more interactive, as long as this is non-obtrusive.
The thing is, GUIs aren't wrong, it's just that the GUI applications have no uniform interoperability like their CLI counterparts. Whose fault is that? Certainly NOT the authors! The fault is much deeper in the OS.
P.S. It doesn't have to do with hating GUIs for most people, it has to do with using a terminal efficiently, which often times means avoiding the mouse when possible.
yes, but that's exactly the argument I expected. Not using the mouse on GUIs is entirely possible, but your argument let's GUIs look as if they are antiquated technology not able to handle hotkeys or vim motions or anything else you want to improve efficiency.
You refer to efficiency as driving point, which I'm a big fan of, although you probably know quite well that you wouldn't use an OS if it had no GUI. The cost of entry into the IT community isn't just time, but capability and intelligence. These are the reasons why still many people are digitally divided and can't use computers efficiently. The GUIs aren't easy enough for them, forget about the terminal efficiency.. You only reach efficiency when you have the possibility to collect enough routine. How will your Grandfather get that routine, when the "cost of entry" is too high for him to master in his age.
We're not on facebook, don't expect anyone to go phishing for upvotes. We care to improve the knowledge, efficiency, health and productivity of startup people on HN.
but it would be sweet (more for my folks than for me, but still) if you could click on a filename in a terminal to open it, or drag from one directory listing to another to move it
You don't have to use the GUI I'd imagine.
I would love to have FinalTerm's features in some sane terminal (no gtk, no super slow libraries etc)
Who is "you"? Different people have different needs and preferences.
Maybe, but that makes the GUI look worse.