>Les Mikesell wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-10-12 at 10:04, Lamar Owen wrote:
>> To further the analogy, many time the Linux car will require you to
>> change
>> crankshafts to install a new radio. Or at least it seems that way.
>> Blame
>> the developers of the program you wish to install for using libraries
>> that
>> are too far on the cutting edge.
>
> But, if you really want a new car it is kind of painful to replace
> all your individual parts even though it is possible when you
> group them appropriately. Especially when the price is right for
> that other new car...
To go even further in the analogy, what do I want in a car? Do I want the
very latest untested engine that might strand me in the boonies? Or do I
want an engine that has had hundreds of thousands built and tested? Or
worse: what if I have a new whiz-band hydrogen engine, and run out of gas
a couple hundred miiles from the nearest hydrogen station?
When I migrate from an enterprise distribution like CentOS to a bleeding
edge distribution I lose a lot of things; I won't change to a hydrogen
engine for a new XM Radio, for instance. Now, in my case, I have changed
the entire body on my CentOS installations through the use of the
kde-redhat repository; but that is just the skin, and doesn't touch the
frame or the engine. And thus far later kde installs don't require large
base changes in terms of versions except the KDE install itself.
Now, if kde-redhat didn't exist it would be far more painful, but that's a
case where I'm prepared to do the work manually to get the killer feature
I need out of KDE 3.4 (the improved telescope control of the 3.4 kstars:
read the .sig to find out why).
--
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC 28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu
