> Edward Croft wrote: > | > | 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. Well lets look back at Windows. Windows '95 was able to stay running for , what was it 32 days, before it would "Perform system maintenance" ie.. crash. Not to knock Windows... My wife uses it. She has never used a command line interface. My older two kids use windows, although they're almost ripe for a conversion. Do you remember some of the nightmares involved in getting and additional hardware working on windows 3.11 or 95 "Need a free IRQ..." Linux is growing up fast. apt-get and rpm are helping things along. Lindows (aside from being root all the time) is a good step in that direction. Yeah a linux user running Lindows is kind of like riding a moped... Fun but embarrassing if you get caught. There are days where I absolutely love chasing down compile errors and fixing them, and other days where I just want shit to work. Just remember Windows has had almost 20 years to get to where they are software wise... Linux is much more secure when used correctly. Just My $.02 FYI: 4 out of 6 of my computers run a linux distro exclusively. The others run WinXP. One more will be converted if I can get ATI's drivers (With TV out) to work. May even convert the last as well (And run vmware for the wife). New Englander's... Enjoy the snow this weekend... I know I will. -- Michael Gargiullo <mgargiullo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Warp Drive Networks
