On Friday 21 July 2006 07:03, crank u. say wrote: > You could promote Linux, and even sell Linux I believe with this approach: I believe this has already been answered extensively by the Linux Advocacy HOWTO.¹ > 1. You need a reliable group of Linux experts who have internet access debian-user@lists.debian.org. > 2. They will need to have technical, physical and legal ability and > authority to take control of a computer that a potential client authorizes > them to take control of That's beyond the scope of Free Software. You're more than welcome to start your own company to do that, but I wouldn't expect any Free Software oriented distro to do more than point you to the part of the GPL that says No Warranty. > 3. A client (a human being who wants a custom > operating system installed to their needs and wants--programs they will be > able to use and not any more) will by telephone interview or online > questionaire, describe and define what applications they want and need, > which in turn will be included in a Linux framework to fit their abilities > to actuallyuse them as they are familiar with using application programs. Why not start your own programmer-for-hire business then? > This will generally be GUI with defaults that make sense, and options > limited for less experienced users and greater for more experienced users. That's called KDE. > 4. I am absolutely convinvinced that a seemingly "custom" Linux operating > system could be produced fairly quickly--quickly enough from any number of > distros stripped of the superfluous Linux trivia (over half of any distro i > have ever seen--all the "geek" stuff that you throw in for good measure and > people like me puzzle over even after seeing the applications for over a > year), Debian installs nothing but a base system by default: You don't even get X or any editor other than vi by default. You have to install everything else. If you find something superfluous on a Debian system, it's because *you* (or someone else with root access to your machine) told it to put it there. > then personalized by installing for easy use the best applications that > people ask for--Firefox browser, not Konqueror, Mozilla Suite would be nice > because it has the "composer " to make simple web pages (forget those other > 30 or so arcane editors always in Linux Distros), NVU I swear by and have > never found it it a Linux distro, Skype and not the rest of the geek voip > phones that you like but no one uses. What's wrong with Konqueror, other than it doesn't have your brand name on it? :o) Seriously, Konqueror also appears in OSX as Safari, thus being the default browser on two major desktop environments. And have you used Mozilla in an environment other than Gnome on Linux? "Ugly and slow" comes to mind (though I love it on Windows, since it's less noticeable as everything tends towards *FUGLY* and slow there). > Open Office is acceptable, but Office compatibility should also be an option > even if it costs for some proprietary software. I'm not convinced this is a real argument, since not even Microsoft Office can save and open as many versions of Microsoft Office formats as even Microsoft Office itself. I think KOffice is pretty close to the same par at this point. Have you actually used OpenOffice with Aunt Tillie² audience yet? I have. It works great, the elderly nurses I used to work with preferred the simpler, more straightforward organization of OO.o to Microsoft Office.³ > After all, a person will gladly pay for a unique and > personal (custom, on e-of-a-kind or whatever marketing term serves you), > that has been install by someone to order and even fine tuned and serviced > (for a modest fee) to suit the client and to make optimal use of his > specific hardware as wellIn other words; if any one of you geniuses would > spend an hour or two to put a stable secure operating system based on a > core of a Linux distro that was stripped of all the stuff most people do > not want, but complete with the applications that people do want and are > familiar with (and that work through simple GUI), I think people would pay > $50 or so, if out of nothing else but vanity of having a system custonm > assembled (not written from scratch--that's stupid) for their use and > installed for them so they can be assured that their system is ready to do > what they want to do as soon as they start using it and will hold together > over time.Hasd anyone (or group of Linux geniuses) ever tried anything at > all like this or considered it? You might want to take a look at the Debian Social Contract to see why free software exists, because it appears you are missing the point almost entirely. http://www.debian.org/social_contract ¹ Linux Advocacy HOWTO: http://ursine.ca/cgi-bin/dwww/usr/share/doc/HOWTO/en-html/Advocacy.html ² Aunt Tillie: http://ursine.ca/Aunt_Tillie ³ This was a big win with my boss at the time, who was fretting the idea of having to get into license compliance with Microsoft over Office. -- Paul Johnson Email and IM (XMPP & Google Talk): baloo@ursine.ca Jabber: Because it's time to move forward http://ursine.ca/Ursine:Jabber
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