Re: Attracting newbies (Was Booting Debian/testing fails)
On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 01:02:01PM -0800, Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 03:24:56PM -0500, Michael Pobega wrote:
> > Andrew Sackville-West wrote:
> > >On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 02:07:39PM -0500, Michael Pobega wrote:
> > >
> > >>The one thing I really don't understand, though, is why people use
> > >>Ubuntu.
> > >>
> > >
> > >bleh. responsing anyway...
> > >
> > >I return to the example of my mom. Many people don't want to "update"
> > >their system. They want it to just work and stay that way. Many users,
> > >especially novices, don't deal well with change and don't want
> > >it. Ubuntu, if you don't upgrade, is perfect in this respect. At the
> > >time it is released, it just works. If you leave it there, if will, of
> > >course, just work forever.
> > >[...]
> > But it's the same way with Debian Stable/Testing. If you want a system
> > that just /works/, you can run Stable. If Stable is too outdated/doesn't
> > support your hardware, give Testing a run. If you really need a few
> > programs (For me running Testing, I'll use checkinstall as an example)
> > and don't mind a few bugs you can always install from source (Since
> > everything in the repositories is GPL/BSD anyway).
>
> okay, clarification. and this is no defense of ubuntu. I am
> indifferent. Ubuntu has a default environment that just works and is
> fully implemented. Debian does too, but its not so obvious as you have
> to select it at the last stage of installation. So, yes running debian
> stable (or frankly just not upgrading any install of debian at some
> point where you're satisfied with it) is effectively the same
> thing. But getting there is not as direct as with ubuntu. ubuntu
> caters to the windows user who wants to plug in the disk and have a
> full blown working desktop without any real intervening stuff. (I know
> this is not reality...). In debian you can do that, but you have to
> know to pick that selection at the end.
Do you mean that to gt Debian to appeal to this wider audience all we
need to do is have a different installer?
> If you don't you end up here
> with the "I think I did something wrong because all I get is 'login:'"
> emails.
>
> Alright, I'm losing track of my thoughts now. bleh. let it go. We all
> agree, it needs to be easier for newbs without giving up the soul of
> debian ;)
>
> A
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