Re: Help!

[antgel <antony@antgel.co.uk>]

Hendrik Boom wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 07, 2005 at 03:17:11PM +0100, antgel wrote:
> 
>>Jon Dowland wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, Sep 06, 2005 at 07:48:53AM -0400, George Boyce wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>I'm not sure what to do from here! I typed in ENTER - no good. I tried
>>>>LOGON........still no good! Keeps
>>>>bringing me to  "username"@Debian1: ~$
>>>
>>>
>>>Sorry, this reply doesn't answer your question (the others do):
>>>
>>>We've had a lot of these queries recently. Does that suggest the
>>>installation process needs to be adjusted slightly, to combat the
>>>assumption a GUI environment is installed by default? Or should we be
>>>pushing for people to read the installation docs before going ahead with
>>>it?
>>
>>I raised a bug on this after being in #debian for a while.  325655 if
>>you're interested.  It is incredible how many people don't read the
>>install guide or the Reference.  It's not as if one is installing a
>>little program to work with their mobile phone.  This is an OS, for
>>goodness' sake.
> 
> 
> And as Debian goes on gaining ground against Microsoft, we're
> going to have more and more people being confuse about this.
> I'm not concerned about the few newbies who actually ask what's
> wrong here.  I'm concerned about the ones who don't, give up, and go
> back to Windows, thinking they are just not smart enough for free
> software.

If somebody tries to install an OS, gives up without reading the
documentation, and goes back to their previous OS, they are really not
cut out for Debian.

> Every recruit to Windows, whether voluntary or not, is a kind
> of secret agent using the cures of compatibility to push Windows
> on to new users.

That's not Debian's problem.  Don't worry about things you can't
control.  In any event, Linux and Debian (as far as I know) are becoming
more popular than ever.

> My daughter keeps complaining we don't have Word here.  All her
> friends have Word, and we don't, and it makes it hard for her to
> collaborate with them on class projects.  Yes, we have OpenOffice,
> and AbiWord, and the like, and they are just not quite compatible
> enough.

You could try the OOo 2.0 beta.

Antony