On Fri, 2003-12-05 at 09:29, Marcus Specht wrote: > What about adding an application to Fedora to automatically download and > install the needed software (mp3-Support, java etc.) after the > installation of fedora. Maybe after pressing some "I know what i am > doing"tm buttons? > This would be really helpful to some beginners without knowledge how to > install the necessary packages.... This harkens back to the ease of use issue. Or as we like to say, the Grandma issue. I just had to work with a Windows 2000 laptop. I went to a website that required Flash, and guess what happened? It automatically downloaded and installed the flash player and continued on playing. Easy enough for Grandma. Knock Windows as much as you want, it is much easier to install software for the common user. This is the drawback to Linux at this time. It is definitely not ready for the common user, ie Grandma. Grandma is going to find it hard to install java. Hey Grandma, just download the rpm and install, then go into /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins and create a link to the plugin. Oh, and I know there are three directories, but of course, you know which plugin to use. At least the flash installer copies the files into the /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins directory for you. Oh, and you want to play a DVD on Linux? Well, now, be sure to download and install libdvd, and all those other libraries. Getting the vendors to treat Linux with the same respect as Windows, is the real battle. License, copyrights, patents aside, we need the vendors to recognize Linux. We need a better mechanism for installing software. Back in 1999 Linus stated that he wanted to see more kids games and programs, and he wanted Linux easy enough for Grandma to install it. Well, we are near five years later, and while there might be a few more games, it is still not easy enough for Grandma to install and use it. Okay, sorry, off my soapbox. Just frustrated. Ed.
