[ale] Re: This bites (was Re: [ale] More on Mozilla/Java)

[Kevin Krumwiede]

No kidding.  When Mandrake 8.2 was in beta, I posted my thoughts on this
to the Cooker list.  I'm no guru, although I have a good general
understanding of computers from years of tinkering with Windows.  I
consider myself a good problem-solver.  I do a little programming as a
hobby, but I am no great hacker.  I have only been using Linux for about
a year.  I can't submit bug reports in hex like the maintainers seem to
want.  Sometimes the best I can do is say something's not working and be
as methodical as I can about describing the circumstances.  MandrakeSoft
thinks a simple mailing list is adequate for bug tracking and
reporting.  People feel like their bug reports are being ignored.  In
many cases they are.

And what they don't get is that most people don't care how much "better"
Linux is.  They won't notice that their downloads are 2X faster if the
first thing they see is that Nautilus crashes, gmc's tree view doesn't
work, browser windows constantly pop up halfway off the screen, and
cut-and-paste doesn't work half the time.  And even with Mandrake, the
"easiest" distro of all, I still spend countless hours tweaking things
before it's right.  If someone like me has this much trouble, how do
they expect to win over people who are completely computer-illiterate?

On the other hand, how many of those people could do a Windows install
without running ito trouble?  Probably not many.  I think the only way
Linux will ever really reach the masses is if OEMs start shipping boxes
with Linux pre-installed and configured.  And I think that will
eventually happen, considering Microsoft's latest extortion schemes and
legal troubles.  But until then, it's up to people like us to carry the
load and give the newbies a hand up.

Krum


On Sun, 2002-03-24 at 21:33, Jeff Hubbs wrote:
> Do any of the distro makers realize that this kind of crap just isn't 
> going to fly as far as "desktop acceptance" goes?  This stuff needs to 
> "arrive working."  



---
This message has been sent through the ALE general discussion list.
See http://www.ale.org/mailing-lists.shtml for more info. Problems should be 
sent to listmaster at ale dot org.