[Gllug] EU patents

[will]

> On Tuesday 01 Jul 2003 1:23 am, Will Napier wrote:
>> Fantastic and specific proposal to have a law making illegal the
>> supplying of a system with a preinstalled OS. However my novice
>> experience of trying to install mandrake 9.1 and get all my gear to
>> work makes me feel that linux has a way to go before it is truly
>> accesible to people who are less enthusiastic than I am.
>
> One of the major failings in the Linux world is the RTFM attitude from
> both  existing users and software vendors.  We must all remember that
> the reason  that the average Linux user is much more adept than the
> Windoze user is that  (s)he HAS to be.
>
> Linux (despite the efforts of the Mandrake / Suse camps) is still harder
> to  install than Windoze.  Hardware handling is still relatively crude,
> and most  kde / gnome software is poorly integrated.  The diehard Linux
> users will  protest that "everything can be done in a shell), but how
> often do you have  to use DOS during a Windoze install?  In some
> respects, the configurability  of Linux is its' downfall.

I stopped using RedHat at about 7.2 after discovering debian but saw
redhat 8 recently.  I was impressed with the ease of installation with
7.2, but I was very very impressed with the improvements I saw in 8.  It
is pretty damn easy to install, I think as easy as windows.  I personally
am not going to stop using debian, but I am considering installing redhat
for my dad.  I still think that it is not necessarily as easy to use as
windows once it is on, but it is pretty damn close with redhat 8/9.

> It would probably be best to create a "default" installation - used by
> ALL  flavours of Linux.  It needs a simple shell, X, and a basic window
> manager  and a hardware integration tool that operates flawlessly.

I don't think this is going to work, the development teams for Debian and
redhat for example will always have differing opinions on what it would
contain etc. and I am not sure I would want this anyway.

Will.



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