Re: LORAX Report

[Steven Pritchard <steve@silug.org>]

Jay Link said:
> BUT, I don't think it will ever be easy for the "typical" user. Nor should
> it. Linux is a server OS, and if you want an iMac, then you should buy
> one. But Linux can't be everything. DOS was great - you could turn it off
> at any time without damaging anything. Same with the Apple II. But Linux
> will never be right for Ma & Pa Kettle.
> 
> Bring on the flames...

Well, I disagree, but not completely.  I don't think having an OS that
is easy to use necessarily implies an OS that is easy to install.  I
personally wouldn't have cared if Linux was ever as easy to install as
Caldera made it with OpenLinux 2.2.  (Not that it hurts anything, but
it's not like your typical computer user would be able to install
Windows (especially not NT) either.)

Now, that said, I think Linux is already close to being as easy to use
as any other OS, perhaps more so.  The primary difference between
Linux and those other OSs is that it's not so easy for an end-user to
install an application (or whatever) on Linux.  As a admin for a large
Unix shop, I can definitely tell you that this is a feature, not a
bug.  Most people probably wouldn't agree with me though, and most
end-users are going to want to throw large quantities of random
software on their systems.  That means that they need to be root,
which means that they need to have some clue how to admin their box.
Most people don't have said clue, and probably won't any time soon,
which suddenly means that Linux needs to be easier to admin than any
other OS out there for random users to like it.

Of course, at the rate SuSE is going, you'll install every piece of
software known to man during the installation procedure, so you'll
never have to install new software, right?  ;-)

(Whew.  Any of that make sense?  It's been a long day...  :-)

Steve
-- 
steve@silug.org           | Linux Users of Central Illinois
(217)698-1694             | Meetings the 4th Tuesday of every month
Steven Pritchard          | http://www.luci.org/ for more info

--
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@luci.org with
"unsubscribe luci-discuss" in the body.