OT: Re: Home User installs
Hi Alex,
folks,
just read your (old) msg on debian-project...
Am Mit, 2003-09-17 um 06.23 schrieb Alex King:
> After an enquiry I (foolishly) agreed to install linux for a fixed price
> ($120) for a home user who had his previous windows setup hosed
I had similar experiences with installing several laptops.
The standard situation is: they're for good friends who are heading away
for a long time, no more support from me possible.
For the _full_ job i needed about 2 - 4 weeks, sometimes more.
This use to be a double boot design though, and there always are several
hardware glitches, eg native BIOS hibernation, burner, full LAN,
standalone vs kernel pcmcia and so on. But that's not the point here.
Actually, i promised the linux desktop and office functionality to be as
good as a Windows 2000+ ....jirch. ! I'll be really careful in future about
such promises. - I had to hack in things and write several little tools,
in the end.
Now what's left is the feeling that they totally depend on an expert if
something goes wrong or isn't implemented.
Where, on the other hand, with W2k just wouldn't go wrong anything
(if you're a brave user), and most things simply _are_ implemented.
Of course, in any different case, you're lost.
I think we have to accept that M$ set the measures here.
And don't protest here too easy. I used M$ for publishing and networking
sometimes. Besides the weaknesses with networking and in overall design,
the office and internet usability is really good now. Installing use to
work out of the box. Besides all i don't like with M$ as a company, it's quite
a piece of work. Consider the difference to the pre-NT series. There are many
little mysterious details (mainly on the new kernel and terminal
functionalities) that i can't help to believe NT 4/5 is just running on
top of a Unix or even Linux !
So, this feeling...I did a lot of work just to prevent them to stay
helpless -- detailed documentation of my hacks, introductions and
my personal "How to...with this machine", configured browser bookmarks,
internal redundancy and stability features. Autobackup.
In the end, it's still not good enough.
The modern user ik came to know don't want to be bothered with anything
'system' at all ! - (s)he doesn't have any time or any interest.
Usually a new installed linux program _has_ to be adapted to 'special circumstances'.
Of course, there are a lot more possible, than on a windows clone.
I like the concept, and especially Debian is quite good here -- but I felt sticked to
fully configure nearly every detail of any daemon or desktop application, even tune the log
turnarounds or provide a bridge between openoffice and kde.
About 5-10 days work, as a rough estimate. But that's what i promised.
w2k+ is really good in autoconfiguration. And sure, i know the reasons.
Maybe some bizz versions (like yellow dog) are better here.
But backgrounds doesn't count much when it comes to daily practice.
I wouldn't recommend installing a free linux distribution in every case
again.
> His children live in Spokane WA, and Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
You can ask for help on debian-user, there's much more
traffic. And what's about a LUG in Santa Cruz ?
> Alex
--
-- mi
ps. i heard of debian-desktop, maybe someday i'll have a look into there.
But there are more serious problems, especially with new patent laws,
threatening free software (i don't mean of sco).
Here in Europe there's still a slight chance to limit the damage.
I think this is far more important work by now.
It can cut linux' competiviness from the ground.
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