Re: To the Debian Project, IMHO
Simon Martin wrote:
>I am still adamant that any attempt to paint Linux as an out of the box solution
> with no prior knowledge is a real danger to the on-going comercial success of Linux. I worked in tech-support for Xerox for about 7
> years (Xerox used to sell Apple Mac, IBM PS/2 and Dell in Latin America), and I would say that at least 70% of the problems we had
> we with users who not only did not know what they were doing (no problems with that) but who did not WANT to know what they were
> doing. Microsoft has fixed the image of it's OS as "just use and ignore it". >Let's not fall into that trap.
I agree. I also worked on Tech support for a large company using Windows
and found the same thing. IMHO the real issue is that there needs to be
*two* kinds of Operating Systems, as we have now - the Windows kind
where the user can install and use it without too much knowledge, with
the slick GUI's, and the GNU/Linux kind as found in Debian distribution
which can be configured, and most importantly taken apart to see how it
works, and then put back together again, so giving people the chance to
learn and understand about Operating Systems.
IMHO there are two important issues. First, what we must not do is allow
GNU/Linux to just imitate Windows - we must have and maintain a
GNU/Linux distribution which is for techies and people who want to
become techies. Let Corel and others have a distribution which they can
make easier, but let us
This leads to the second important issue - free software. Debian is
important because it is committed to the principles of free software,
*and* because it gives us the chance to help develop it, to participate.
I may be wrong but there seems to me to be a sense of community among
Debian users/developers which you just don't get with Windows and the
stuff produced by big corporations.
As Corel and other corporate concerns develop GNU/Linux I am sure they
will go the same way - it will be them, the corporation, and us, the
users, plus restrictive license agreements which take away freedoms.
To sum up - what IMHO is important is not the commercial success of
GNU/Linux, but keeping GNU/Linux tweakable, learnable, interesting and
composed of free software with all the advantages that brings in terms
of community and development.
Godric
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