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Re: Debian on the shuttle



Bruce:

Who is the target audience of this press release?  Persons who've 
never heard of Linux?  I'd suggest that you target persons who
use commercial versions of UNIX on expensive workstations at
the office, and Windows 95 at home.  This person has probably heard
of Linux, but has little or no sys-admin experience and is intimidated
by the thought of installing and maintaining a UNIX-like system
on his home computer. A secondary target person is one using a 
commercial distribution of Linux.

I would consider it good if a person who has never heard of Debian,
Linux, or GNU makes the following link:

ln -sf 'free yet powerful operating system' Linux 

after reading a Debian press release. Yet a person who already
knows 

lr--r--r--  1  brain   jim   25  May  3  Linux -> free yet powerful OS

should make the following link:

ln -sf 'free yet simple implementation of Linux' 'Debian GNU/Linux'

after reading a Debian press release.

May I suggest something like this for press releases:

  It is possible to build an operating system from software which
  is available from ftp/web sites around the world.  Typically
  one starts with the Linux kernel and adds GNU utilities and
  compiler.  However, building an functional operating system
  from workable parts can be an enormous task for non-experts.
  Fortunately, a team of 200 persons from around the world collaborating
  via the internet has assembled an working operating system from
  these freely available peices and developed a simple installation
  procedure. The result is the Debian GNU/Linux operating system.

Aside:

Red Hat Linux 4.0 was awarded Best of 1996 by InfoWorld Magazine
in the category of Desktop Operating Systems.  In that article
I learned that "Red Hat...includes its own desktop windows with
a Windows 95 look and feel."       ^^^^^^^


Joe Mantle
University of Illinois


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