Several points have been made repeatedly under this thread. It seems
to me that people are talking past one another here just a bit with one
or another side not listenting to the other. This message is an effort
to help identify possible avenues for mutually satisfactory resolution
and begins with an interpretation of major points made in the discussion
in the eyes of this enduser linux neophyte.
MAJOR POINTS MADE
1. Use of the "everything" install option, installs everything included
in a Fedora Core distribution.
2. "Everything" install includes support for over 100 lnaguages which
very, very few people/installations will ever use.
3. Alarge number of applications of interest to people but not included
in predefined bundles are only installed with the "everything" option
but that comes with an unnessicarily, and burdensome high cost.
4. If one is looking to pare/reduce the core distribution, support for
infrequently used languages appears a likely candidate.
5. Moving the large, diverse language support package(s) to extras
would increase already severe difficulties for people with limited
English language reading comprehension.
6. Anaconda provides an option to exclude/include some packages when
installing predefined package bundles or groups.
7. I'm/We are not going to consider doing anything but moving a bunch
of apps out of core into extras.
SOME OBSERVATIONS
1. Candidates for reclassification as extras versus core package is
only one of multiple issues that pervade the discussion.
2. Precedent exists for shifting some "everything" packages into
predefined bundle groups. For example, FC3 included Xfce in Desktop
bundle versus "everything" install as in FC2.
3. Support for anything more than three or four languages is likely
only needed in server installations.
4. Grouping full internationalization support in Server Installation
bundle has some logic to it.
6. Continuing reliance on the "Everything" option to install undefined
miscellaneous or supplemental options undercuts returns to Red Hat.
Debugging and QA testing of application packages WILL NOT OCCUR unless
that are installed and the more difficult/costly it is to install apps
the less likely it will happen.
7. Creating an additional Installation Group or Bundle called
Miscellaneous or Supplemental that gave some idea of the packages
available would give developers and Red Hat more and better feedback
information on what users would actually prefer than the current
installation setup.
8. It might be worthwhile to defer decisions on whether a package is
Core or Extras until information biases imposed by past installation
setups are corrected/reduced.
9. Fixing the "Add/Remove Applications" gui utility may be a very
difficult development task, but it would go a very long way to relieving
some of the difficulties addressed under this discussion thread. It
would also go a long way toward elevating linux desktop systems to user
friendliness on a par with Windows.
10. Elevating the development priority for fixing the
installation/Add-Remove Package program(s) is likely warranted.
FWIW, there are some thoughts. :-) (Donning fire retardent gear, he
says "Feel free to flame away!) :-)
