Re: I can't beleive this
On Fri, Mar 12, 1999 at 02:39:43PM +0800, ivan wrote:
> At 10:32 PM 3/11/99 -0700, Ray wrote:
> >These kinds of people really want the system pre-installed and certainly
> >shouldn't be doing upgrades etc. These folks should probably be leasing
> >their computer (preferably something along the lines of an Imac.).
>
> No argument - but the only way that any Linux distro is going to be offered
> as an alternative pre-installed O/S is if the installation procedure
> becomes as simple as Windows. Sure, there is some fine tuning required
> with Windows installation but the bulk of the work is done for you which
> makes it quick and easy for the shop technician.
OEMs don't manually install the software on each machine. They either make
an image on one machine and clone it onto the others or they use an install
script. Red Hat has a really nice tool for automating installs and that is
something I'd really like to see on Debian.
> >
> >These "point & click jockeys" are the folks that make it more profitable to
> >sell crap than quality products.
>
> I trust we're referring to Windows itself rather than the aftermarket
> products which I have found are mostly very good.
Windows is a good example but I was thinking more of hardware. Have a look
at the latest Intel comercials and ask yourself why your internet
performance should improve with a PIII. Check out the specs. on the Quantum
Bigfoot drives (transfer rates and MTBF) and then ask why so many OEMs
bother to use the things(answer: they are dirt cheap). Why did so many of
the last generation Pentium machines come with no L2 cache? There are
hundreds of other examples from almost every large vendor but what it comes
down to is that millions of people are throwing away good money on junk
because they simply don't know any better.
> that everything's fine if you don't use that one application. I've had
> complete system lockups under Linux as well - gauging from this list I'd
> say that everyone does experience this from time to time (at least if they
> ever install any new software at all).
I've never had an application lock up Linux. I have had individual programs
lock up but everything else just keeps on working. I have had a couple of
hardware related problems but in my line of work I accumulate a lot of old
hardware and usually try to recycle it.
If you think the future of consumer PCs is going to be relitivly simple
leased machines then Linux makes a lot of sense. For example it is nearly
impossible for a "mere user" to hose a Linux system so bad that it won't
answer the phone and accept a telnet connection. That and the fact that you
don't need to re-boot after making changes or adding software means that
it's practical to fix just about anything from anywhere in the world so the
user doesn't have to be the system admin.
--
Ray
nmos@sonictech.net
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