I completely agree with you, Mitchell, but we must take into account two things: branding and IT managers.
Let's face it, although we all love it, Gentoo has a long way until it becomes a popular linux distribution. Here in Spain, when you talk about linux, people thinks about RedHat, Debian, Suse... that's branding, they managed to make their distributions popular. This doesn't mean their distributions are better than Gentoo, that only means that they have better marketing, maybe they are more user friendly when installing for totally novice users, ...
So when we talk about corporate usage we must think also about IT managers. They are the one who are going to approve your crazy idea of putting in production that Gentoo distribution that they haven't ever heard of. He is the one that is gonna be kicked ass if the damn thing doesn't work. So if the RedHat stuff doesn't work, they always may blame RedHat and their certification program and move to another distro, so they feel backed in some sense. If the Gentoo stuff doesn't work, they will be probably fired, as there is no one else to blame. Do you know that phrase "no one ever got fired for buying IBM"? Perhaps we could apply the same here.
So what should Gentoo do or provide for becoming a first order distribution (always in my humble opinion)?
First of all, I think it should provide a graphical installer and updater for "silly users" in order to gain popularity in the desktop area. I mean, if a newbie with no linux experience has to decide between the linux from scracth approach of Gentoo and the graphical installer from RedHat, I bet he will pick RedHat (what the hell, I did it before I knew Gentoo). The graphical updater could use emerge behind the scenes, and always work in the stable branch, so this user doesn't break anything by accident (yes, I know about kportage, but I think it provides access to "dangerous" functionalities of emerge for a newbie).
And second, I don't think this certification stuff is bad at all for Gentoo. This could provide a money income for Gentoo developers, as they could manage this certification stuff, and I think Gentoo would be better considered in the corporate environment. Add to this some scripts to the distribution or standardize the procedures described by some of the people that posted here for improving stability, and add a little marketing about speed and ease of maintenance and I think Gentoo could be soon the leading one in the IT boxes.
Regards Jose
gabriel wrote:
On April 2, 2003 07:00 pm, Mitchell James wrote:
Gentoo must have a CD distribution with certified training classes before it has a chance at my company.
I also have had problems acheiving a stable configuration and wouldn't
recommend your standard desktop user be exposed to that much pain.
i have to say that this sort of response is VERY surprising to me. while i only have a small network here @home, i've had very few problems when it comes to stability (mostly the linux learning curve). and what's this about "certified training classes"? why would you need that? just pick up a book and go nuts. i've always felt that certification is just the windows world thinking being imposed on linux. ...i mean, how is having some piece of paper mean you can do your job?
this, like everything else i post is not meant to be a match in a gas-filled room, but i find this thinking very odd and would like to hear if there are others who swing this way.
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