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Marvin · Jul 17th, 2006, 11:19 AM

I thought that this would be the mentality of people here. Linux is for geeks so why make it easy. I want to use a Linux Distribution that is as easy as windows and as powerfull as UNIX. You dont have to remove the command line or make it so things can only be configured though a GUI.

Mac OS X is an easy to use UNIX based OS. It has the simplicity that people who want to get things done want, but with the underlieing complexitiy that you can get too if you are inclined to type alot on the command line.

Now im not saying Linux sould become a Mac OS X clone, im saying that Linux as a complete OS could learn from other systems. I like to tinker, but i hate having to download 10 or more KDE packages everytime i want to upgrade KDE. Why not make one that then gives you options as to what parts you wish to install, its not like download bandwidth is an issue these days. You can get the best of both worlds.

To put it simply GNU/Linux was designed for geeks by geeks. I think if the geeks want Linux on computers outside goverment,geekdom and web/mail servers they really need to work on the user experience. If you make things too hard for people they will not want to even look at it. Im sure there is a balance to be found.

One more point is, why have 100's of difference distributions. They are all just aspiring to be like the top five. I know its nice to have choice but its like going to a vending machine and finding that there is 50 varities of cola all with subtle differences. I know there are distibutions that are designed for enterprise application, some for high end servers, clusters etc. But im talking about the desktop. One or two main easy to use, but still powerfull distributions would probably see a much greater rate of adoption.

I would like to add, that having some standard might also make developers lives easier. Big software comapines wont become interested in porting their app to linux unless they know that it will work on most desktop linux's. I would love to see Adobe port all theirs apps to linux, but its hard if you have to make a different version for each linux distribution and version. Maybe its just because Richard Stalman does not want proprietary software becoming the norm on linux. If we make it hard to write commerical apps then there wont be many. But i wont start going on about the free as in freedom movement at the free software foundation led by RMS.

Jul 17th, 2006, 11:19 AM	#9
Marvin Newbie Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Heart of Gold Posts: 23 Rep Power: 0	I thought that this would be the mentality of people here. Linux is for geeks so why make it easy. I want to use a Linux Distribution that is as easy as windows and as powerfull as UNIX. You dont have to remove the command line or make it so things can only be configured though a GUI. Mac OS X is an easy to use UNIX based OS. It has the simplicity that people who want to get things done want, but with the underlieing complexitiy that you can get too if you are inclined to type alot on the command line. Now im not saying Linux sould become a Mac OS X clone, im saying that Linux as a complete OS could learn from other systems. I like to tinker, but i hate having to download 10 or more KDE packages everytime i want to upgrade KDE. Why not make one that then gives you options as to what parts you wish to install, its not like download bandwidth is an issue these days. You can get the best of both worlds. To put it simply GNU/Linux was designed for geeks by geeks. I think if the geeks want Linux on computers outside goverment,geekdom and web/mail servers they really need to work on the user experience. If you make things too hard for people they will not want to even look at it. Im sure there is a balance to be found. One more point is, why have 100's of difference distributions. They are all just aspiring to be like the top five. I know its nice to have choice but its like going to a vending machine and finding that there is 50 varities of cola all with subtle differences. I know there are distibutions that are designed for enterprise application, some for high end servers, clusters etc. But im talking about the desktop. One or two main easy to use, but still powerfull distributions would probably see a much greater rate of adoption. I would like to add, that having some standard might also make developers lives easier. Big software comapines wont become interested in porting their app to linux unless they know that it will work on most desktop linux's. I would love to see Adobe port all theirs apps to linux, but its hard if you have to make a different version for each linux distribution and version. Maybe its just because Richard Stalman does not want proprietary software becoming the norm on linux. If we make it hard to write commerical apps then there wont be many. But i wont start going on about the free as in freedom movement at the free software foundation led by RMS. __________________ "Why should I want to make anything up? Life's bad enough as it is without trying to invent any more of it." Last edited by Marvin; Jul 17th, 2006 at 11:33 AM.