On Wed, 2007-02-21 at 20:09 -0500, Kwan Lowe wrote: > > > Try converting winblows users to Fedora, but saying, oh but you cant > play > > mp3's out of the box...you can, but youll have to go toa unofficial > > RH/Fedora repo and try install it, or do like I do and erase the > players > > RH bastardises, and grab the source and install it, now say that to > a > > newbie and you've lost em! First impression are ever lasting in > this > > game. > > Here too... MP3s are nice, but it's not something that is a > show-stopper for me or > anyone that I've helped with Linux. I.e., if MP3 playback is important > enough then > it's a relatively simple matter to install the software. A rough > equivalent would be > WinZIP. It doesn't ship with Windows, but is a quick install. Same for > SSH clients, > editors, Adobe Acrobat Reader, Flash/Shockwave, Quicktime, and a host > of other > proprietary codecs. Maybe if a simple script was written to dnload every proprietary library and util were put right in front of a newbie's nose, just before or after the install was complete... AND it all worked, that would answer the problem. Call it "Media Whore" and by clicking on it you agree to install "legal-iffy" software from a remote site in France. Everything pours in to your machine, and the remote site in France does their best to have everything work at once, so they save the day. Toss in some fun homebrewed avi, mpeg, wmv, midi, mod, wave, flv, mp3 files for testing purposes, everyone gets a hoot and grins, the experience is fun, everybody happy. Make it EASY, and REWARDING so that you can show off your machine with your friends green with envy. My own experience was to get LAUGHED by a fervent Windows user, because xine fell apart while trying trying to show off what had worked just fine. Guys and Gals, THAT sucked. Ole Eric got jerked because what worked, became not-working. He might be a complete knee-biter, I don't know him to judge him, but he's been a fervent and vocal supporter for RH for like forever, and now he is not. That's bottom line kiddies. I get irritated when I have to spend hours unraveling how something that worked, and now doesn't. There are tool-builders, who squeal with delight at the chance to spend a weekend fixing shit, and tool-users who merely want to actually use applications to do things. Tool builders contribute to Linux making and fixing tool stuff that we all need. Tool-Users contribute to Linux using those tools to produce output from the tools, whether they be music/video files, webpages, text, financial statements, etc. Both groups need each other in a symbiotic trusted relationship. Evidently, Eric felt betrayed and lost trust. Maybe he's a half right or completely right or completely wrong, I dunno. I'd give him half right, out of the gate, with nary a quibble. Smart works pretty good, and that is a step in the right direction. I'd like to see a better menu system to it, but it's workable as it is. If he had it in his install, maybe he wouldn't have had as many problems. Ric -- ================================================ My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say: "There are two Great Sins in the world... ..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity. Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad. Linux user# 44256 Sign up at: http://counter.li.org/ http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/oar http://www.wayward4now.net ================================================
