> ease of use is whats gonna make linux the desktop for so many.
> it has to be easy to use for most of us. this is not to say it will
> become less powerful. there will be always be the command line
> and those big black hole that people call terminals :)
>
> i dont understand why some people seem to get upset that
> linux is becoming easier and easier to use. i would like to
> have a discussion with some that feel this way.
>
I agree with what you're saying here. Ease of use doesn't necessarily
mean less powerful. I think there was a time a while back when LinuxPPC
put out a "Live" distro (similar to the SuSe evals we gave out this
week) and many people complained that it didn't have everything (such as
gcc and a bunch of other tools). But it was supposed to be easy to use.
I also think the Easy to Use value proposition comes also from (ahem)
the MacOS. People think it isn't powerful because it's all point and
click. I don't think the Linux Community has quite figured out the ease
of use issue. It's partly cultural, since many a hacker is so used to
doing it all alone, with little or no help, or the kind you get from a
mailing list. Why would you waste your time making it easy to use?
Linux is still a "one size fits all" sort of a phenomenon. If everything
that's expected to go with doesn't come with it, people get upset. (I
think they are confused.) SuSe takes this to heart, because their full
distro is 7 CD's! RedHat and Debian are much more reasonable with their
default installs being smaller.
BTW, RedHat seems to be making headway against the "OSFA" phenomenon.
It's being aimed squarely at the corporate market.
> and i have a question, why do some people get upset with
> the idea that some will make money on linux. if linux is to grow
> then some people will want to buy some software. distros need
> a little money to make the cd
> s and keep their work going.
Hmmm...Linux seems to have done quite well without any money. I think
people are really complaining about the loss of innocence that comes
with growing up. It isn't just the "Hacker's Hobby" anymore. Money also
has an influence separate from what is technically correct.
("Technically" I mean in the sense of the best solution) Money is also
more simply a corrupting influence. Look at what's happened with
Caldera. They got so big that they could buy SCO Unix! Their loyalty to
Linux and Free Software has come into question and has caused Richard
Stallman to publicly admonish them for abandoning Linux. (His opinion)
Another problem people have with the money aspect is like so: "Why
should I contribute time/energy/resources/money/code to a for-profit
company? That would be like making a charitable contribution to M$."
"It's somehow unfair that *my* work should help someone else make money.
Where's my cut?" There's more of course, but you get the idea.
HTH
Russell
____________________________________________________
_its_ (no apostrophe) means "the thing that it owns"
_it's_ (with apostrophe) means "it is"
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