OT : RE: water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
To really start a fire here ...
I personally think that this has to do with Debian more then with Linux
itself. Other linuxdistro's like RedHat, Mandrake, Corel are focusing on the
usability. Debian is more like a sysadmin tool. Maybe it simply lacks an
introduction wich is easy to find. Most of the documentation is readable
enough for the determined.
In the past i've posted on this issue myself but this list does not seem to
be the right one for such discussions. Maybe there exists, or the community
needs, such a list where people can talk about the very concept of the linux
distro. It must also be known that linux itself is a kernel together with
some standard tools, not a complete distribution. AFAIK there is no
'standard' on how to structure a distribution or how to make it
userfriendly.
In itself Linux is really not harder then any other unix oriented system out
there, it is just less mature. All the fuzz about linux is mostly due too
people not realising that this is no kiddy stuff. This is ther REAL thing,
not a customized OS like windows. I worked with both for some time now and
both have their merits. The biggest frustration is indeed that the Linux
community seems to lack a visionary who wants to make Linux WoRk on a
desktop and not just run on a desktop. Some company's are putting effort in
to this but they're not very eager to do so. Imagine the gigantic support
centers (and budgets) needed for this, they are just not ready for it. So
they are happy with the way it works now, as a server in enterprises or in
embedded systems and so on.
Greets,
Joris
-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Stokes [mailto:linux@pieskysoft.com]
Sent: woensdag 11 april 2001 14:41
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.
>However, please don't abuse the community
by going into hysterics because Linux isn't dead easy.<
There was no abusing of the community in the posting I made. I tried to
make it clear that I am anti-windows, and I am sort-of pro-Linux.
>As to your assertion that "Linux is chasing away the very
people it needs" - that's a fallacy. <
I don't think it is. How many copies of Redhat, Suse and the others were
sold in the last two years? How many copies of Debian were downloaded by
newbies in the last two years? Total those up and call it N.
Of those N, how many are running Linux today? I'll bet it is less than
N/10, and could be as low as N/100.
The point of my post is not to whine and complain about Linux. The point
is:
1.) I assume most of the Linux community would like to see Linux be the
dominant OS in the world, and think it deserves this.
2.) In order to accomplish this, it will be necessary for most users to
switch from Windows to Linux.
3.) If a guy like me (who has installed and operated OS's from Assembly on
the Cosmac Elf II, to Basic in ROM on an Ohio Scientific Challenger 4P, to
Data General RDOS, to PDP's RT11, to CP/M, FORTH, and DOS and Windows),
cannot seem to do the simplest thing in Linux, then Linux (and the doc) is
in a form that (1) and (2) will not occur.
If the Linux community does not care about (1) and (2), then I think they
are heading in the right direction.
Once again, let me stress that I think the Linux community is *extremely*
polite and helpful, and that Linux is good and there is lots of great doc
out there. I'm not attacking anybody or anything. I'm simply trying to
say (1), (2), (3) above.
-Kevin Stokes
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