On Fri, 2003-09-12 at 09:55, George Gambill wrote:
> Comfort zones expand very slowly and with some level of pain.  Most of the
> world avoids this adventure like the plague (sp).
> 
> Speaking as a newbie (of the masses), I want the machine to:
> 
> 1) Work (Linux)
> 2) Permit me to stay entrenched in newbie land
>    (GUI, KDE or GNOME) for a while.
> 3) Let me do my word processing (Open Office)
> 4) Let me do my spread sheet etc. (Open Office)
> 5) Let me do my email.
> 6) Let me browse the web. 
> 7) Provide solutions not problems.
> 8) Provide solutions not problems (duplicated on purpose)
-----
I think just about any of the known distros are capable of this.

Intellectually, I like where Derek is coming from - cutting down on the
noise...it's like taking someone to Chompies for the first time. There's
so much on the menu that it's hard to make a decision and thus, he
wonders why confuse someone with the decision of which distro when they
haven't a clue about any of them.

I also like the idea of having the various distros available for install
because it is the diversity that contributes to the strength of Linux in
general - no one actually owns it.

I would have no problem with Debian being the 'preferred' recommendation
as long as there is enough people familiar with it present.

I think that it would be a better idea to have a sort of 'checklist' of
what someone is looking for and to provide input, we should have sort of
a PLUG poll to illustrate what we are using. For example, we might find
that PLUG users who like the traditional Mindsweep/Solotaire (sp?) are
using Red Hat with Gnome and people that are web browser/email junkies
are KDE/Mozilla/Suse users...etc.

Craig