Dag Wieers wrote:
On Fri, 3 Jul 2009, Bogdan Nicolescu wrote:
BUT... when someone from the Centos team makes a statement like
"...latest release has many up-to-date desktop packages..." or any
other statement that might imply, suggest, hint, or even smell of
breaking compatibility with RH, for whatever reason, I think a lot of
users will start looking for alternatives.
First of all, when I said this, I was no longer part of the CentOS team.
Secondly, I didn't say that literally, but I don't object to the
wording. For desktop use we do have up-to-date desktop packages. Not
firefox 3.5 (wasn't released then) but a recent Network Manager,
pidgin, firefox.
So I wasn't lying. If that means that people will look for
alternatives, that's fine. I would be lying if I said that we only had
old desktop applications, wouldn't I ?
CentOS already covers the server market, it doesn't need a push there.
But a lot of people see CentOS as a pure server OS. Which I am trying
to change by telling people how CentOS is perfect for the desktop for
99% of the people. I am leaving out the 1% of people that want to have
the latest and greatest in everything, that are developers, or have
religious technology preference. If Linux would have 100 million users
right now, it wouldn't cover the potential 1% of the whole market if
you look at a desktop-using population.
Again, if your goal is to be 100% compatible with RH, then RH
dictates the package version. And just in case some people are not
very clear on RH's goals for the foreseeable future:
"It’s worth pointing out what’s missing in the list above: we have no
plans to create a traditional desktop product for the consumer market
in the foreseeable future."
http://press.redhat.com/2008/04/16/whats-going-on-with-red-hat-desktop-systems-an-update/
This does not mean that other/extra repositories can't and don't
exist, but it should always be made crystal clear (and it has been a
few days ago), that the base is never compromised.
You read of course what you want to read. And Red Hat is right, they
do not target the _consumer_ market. Which is fair. There is little
money to be made in the consumer market (not if you don't have a lot
of money/effort going to support etc...)
But they do target the Enterprise desktop market and therefor they do
have a desktop product that works fine for what it is. And most people
don't need more than that. (I certainly don't)
So don't make the mistake that so many others have made, which is that
Red Hat is not interested in the Desktop. They are very much
interested, that is partly why they bought Qumranet, and why they
spend so much money on Desktop related development in Fedora.
Red Hat sees the desktop as the next step in revenue, but not in the
consumer market. They see it in the enterprise market. That's crystal
clear for me.
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Just for the record:
I use CentOS due to the pedigree of the source RPMs, the fact that it
will be supported for many years with patches AND that it works fine as
a desktop / work station and even laptop OS. I run five servers, two
laptops and two workstations all with CentOS (use plus for the non
servers). I play videos, and music as well as perform all my business
functions reliably month after month. Keep up the great work.
I use all the CentOS repos, rpmforge and EPEL plus one or two others for
very specific needs. If the additional repos break CentOS I back out and
look elsewhere. Sure it takes some time and tender loving care to get it
all working but the important thing is IT DOES! - RELIABLY month after
month.
I once upon a time I used others and got so tired of having to do
rebuilds of my machine every year or so to stay supported. Life is too
short - I like to use hardware for four+ years and want the OS to match.
Thanks team - this user sure appreciates your efforts and I am trying to
come up to speed so I can be of more help to the project.
Do not let those that rant and rave and get nasty put you off. We
recognize the time and effort it takes to make good stuff happen.
Appreciated
- Rob
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