On Thu, 2003-01-23 at 08:48, Thomas Dodd wrote: > > Riku Meskanen wrote: > > >brother in law or associate professor next faculty, happy > >with pretty standard Red Hat otherwise but needs to keep > >system up2date and get some thirdparty modules easily > >compiled at the times when a kernel was updated too. > > > They wouldn't be using 3rd party modules, unless I or a sysadmin had set > them up. > At which time they would ask me or the admin for help. This is how Linux is supposed to take over the world? By asking the sysadmin for help at every step? On Windows, i install it for my grandma, explain her how to download/install a program, explain her how Windows Update works, and walk away confident that the two aforementioned things will work together peacefully on grandma's computer. On Linux, i explain her how to click on the blue/red "pill" in the Red Hat panel to update her system, i explain her how to download/install RPMs, then lo and behold! i get calls from her every week because: - she downloaded an RPM that "requires another RPM" and she's puzzled numb because of the dependency - she clicked on the "red pill" to update her system, and it told her it was going to update "the kernel or the nucleus or something like that", but that killed VMware, so now she cannot use an application that was important for her. Oh, you mean i had to run vmware-config.pl AGAIN? Why the hell should i do that? Wasn't enough to do it once? See the difference? You're very excited about vendor support and sysadmin help, but that's so narrow. Linux DOES have usability issues, and those things cannot be mitigated by vendors or sysadmins; the users will just say "thanks, but i'll stick to Windows because i can do anything i want on that platform". Bummer. The incompatibilities between the plethora of kernels is a serious plague, and the cause is the shortsightedness of the kernel developers. It is they who must come up with a scheme to avoid the pains caused by "a minor kernel upgrade" that breaks everything on grandma's PC. A MUCH more stable upgrade path must be devised. And for the RPM hell... Don't even get me started on that. It's ridiculous. Right now, your J. Average User is completely unable to do what he's been used with for years on Windows: fire up Mozilla, go to tucows.com, perform a search for "MP3 encoder", download it, install it, use it. No hassle. It simply works. Well, it works on Windows, 'cause Linux is light years below that. Arguing against this description of the state of affairs would simply mean a serious lack of understanding of how Linux is doing on the desktop now. So don't. Oh, BTW, and i'm a die-hard Linux desperado. Using it since Slackware was The Only Distribution (on a bagful of floppy-disks), founded (together with a bunch of friends) a national LUG (small east-european country, doesn't matter, does it?), actively supported Linux on many forums, bet my job on Linux many times, etc.etc. But even if i'm a desperado, i won't stick my head in my rectum. Linux is FAR from being user-friendly, in the Windows sense (and so much more in the MacOS sense). There's a lot of serious work needed to fix that. Architectural changes need to be done. No amount of vendor/sysadmin support can replace it. -- Florin Andrei "I'm only arguing against stupid people who think they need a revolution to improve - most real improvements are evolutionary." - Linus Torvalds _______________________________________________ Redhat-devel-list mailing list Redhat-devel-list@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-devel-list
