I guess the reason for my initial comments were that I was thinking about
the recent experience of a friend of my son's who was interested in
Linux. I
recommended Mandrake 9.2 because I found the installation to be quite
painless. He had trouble downloading the ISO images and making a CD set
that
would install, and so went out and spent $100 on a shrink-wrapped distro,
I

he had trouble burning iso's so........ who's fault is this? 
On Thu, 2 Dec 2004 08:32:00 -0700 "Phil Mattison" <mattison20@cox.net>
writes:
> >From what you have written, I get the clear feeling that these are 
> your
> positions:
> >
> >1. Linux kernel & shell are a-ok, no problems.
> >2. X based desktop environments (kde/gnome/etc) too slow, buggy, 
> crappy.
> >3. Free alternatives to commercial products are not good.
> >4. Commercial motivation = good products.
> 
> Close, but I would say:
> 
> 1. Linux kernel & shell are a-ok, no problems.
> 2. X based desktop environments (kde/gnome/etc) [tend to be] too 
> slow,
> buggy, crappy.
> 3. Free alternatives to commercial products tend to be slow, buggy, 
> crappy.
> 4. Commercial motivation does not necessarily result in good 
> products, but
> of necessity tends to place more emphasis on identifying and meeting 
> the
> needs of a specific market. Open source projects seem often to be 
> done by
> hobbyists who then want the satisfaction of seeing other people 
> benefit from
> their work. There is nothing wrong with that but it does not foster 
> the same
> level of discipline you find in most commercial projects. The GPL 
> can be
> both a blessing and a curse.
> 
> Does that mean I never use free software? Certainly not. Far be it 
> from me
> to make "perfect" the enemy of "good enough." But neither will I 
> fool myself
> into believing that GPL is good and commercial software is evil, 
> even if I
> do think it is usually overpriced.
> 
> I guess the reason for my initial comments were that I was thinking 
> about
> the recent experience of a friend of my son's who was interested in 
> Linux. I
> recommended Mandrake 9.2 because I found the installation to be 
> quite
> painless. He had trouble downloading the ISO images and making a CD 
> set that
> would install, and so went out and spent $100 on a shrink-wrapped 
> distro, I
> think it was SUSE. He couldn't get that to install either. I 
> recommended
> going to one of the install-fests but I don't think he wanted to 
> wait that
> long. After this experience he probably is now an avowed critic of 
> Linux.
> 
> To those who wish to make Linux into a religious crusade I would say 
> the
> reward isn't necessarily worth the effort. If you were offering 
> eternal life
> that might be another matter. But to go around spitting on people 
> who don't
> happen to support your agenda makes me wonder if you wear a towel on 
> your
> head.
> 
> --Phil M.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------
> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss
> 

---------------------------------------------------
PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us
To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change  you mail settings:
http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss