gossamer axe wrote:
I went to the Desktop Summit a few months back...Mainly sponsored by Linspire and Novell was there. I was really impressed with the slick-ness and ease of use with Linspire. I wouldn't run it myself, being a die-hard Slackware fan, but for a new user, it installs in 10 minutes, asks like 2 questions and is "supposed" to autofind everything.
I tend to avoid going to the Desktop Summits because the admission price is out of sight for an individual. They expect companies to pick up the tab when they send their techs. My company doesn't even like paying for the books I buy to educate myself instead of being sent to school. :-\
It is unfortunate that few people who haven't slugged their way through the early days of Linux understand that Linux is capable of fitting niches across the broad spectrum of IT. Back in the early 90's when I started with Slackware you almost had to be a hardware god to get a basic distro to run with all the oddball hardware out there. back then it was all about backroom servers. Today's Linux, particularly on the Desktop, is pretty close to being what Plug and Play was supposed to be in the beginning.
Linspire was not developed for you. You are too knowledgeable and, based on your posts about your car, more interested in getting under the hood.
Linspire is for the poor Windows User who wants the reliability of Linux with an almost flat learning curve so they can get things done without having to learn an entirely new operating system.
I sent a pre-copy of V to our IT person at our Corporate office, he struggled with Suse and RedHat, Linspire was a breeze for him.
If it hadn't been I would be asking for your HR Rep so I could go get an easier job. 8-) I have run Slackware, Redhat, SuSE, Mandrake, even Caldera over the years. These days Linux is tremendously easier to set up and run than back in the bad old days. But then, I started in electronics before integrated circuits were invented. Hell, for that matter most of the electronics I began working with were vacumn tubes and discrete components in the 60's. LOL
I listened to Robertson speak, he seems genuinely wanting to give back to the OS community.
Yes, he does try to be a good OSS citizen. I think he does okay for who he is.
But, as a business, he's in business to make money.
Yep, and many people forget that when most people ran for cover when Microsoft went after Linux he stood his ground and put an awful lot of his money and time into standing up to Microsoft. Some might even say he led with his chin. Even so, he has given a lot back to the OSS community. There are very few major distributions out there that aren't making money in some way off of Linux.
I don't like the idea of the sotware warehouse, but it's a
simple fix for experienced users to edit a file and use apt-get on the
cli.
What is there about the software warehouse that you do not like? They have put a lot of work into making installing a piece of software through their Click N Run service virtually painless. Again, this is for the typical user who wouldn't know what "cli" means. I like the fact that they handle making sure that dependencies and supporting software drivers, libraries, etc. are also downloaded at the same time and put in the right directories so the software works the first time. I have spent many more hours trying to resolve a DLL conflict on Windows OS.
The software warehouse though is a good idea (again) for a
novice Linux user. Software installs w/no problems, directly from the
website. It's $50 a year or something (not including their software
they wrote), which is still by far cheaper than a Microsoft product. And it has the stability and security not found in MS products.
Something that most people overlook is that you can buy a downloadable copy of Linspire 5.0 for $49.95 or a packaged version i.e. CD and manual for $69.95 OR get a downloadable iso copy of Linspire 5.0 and a year's subscription to the warehouse for $89.95 Which entitles you to download any program from the Click N Run warehouse anytime during that first year. And you own those programs for life. Even after your subscription runs out anything you have ever downloaded from the warehouse belongs to you for as long as Linspire is in business. They keep copies of your software on their servers for you to download to any Linspire computer you own whenever you wish, including after your subscription has expired. They do not make much of it in their advertising but you can also set the CNR client to download and save your programs to your local hard drive so that you can archive them off onto a CD. They claim they have over 2000 programs in the warehouse. Seems to me if you didn't want to pay the yearly subscription you could download a mess of programs the first year and then update them the regular way over the years if you are so inclined. Linspire is based on Debian Linux and you can also download a nifty utility called Alien which will allow you to install RPM's.
Time will tell if Robertson sticks with his word on the community.
Yep, but Robertson is not Linspire. And so far I am impressed with his willingness to stand up to Microsoft. As well as his giving back to the community. I cannot tell you how many times I have hated being forced to use FrontPage. His support for Nvu was separate from his activities with Linspire and he put together the right people to make it a reality. Then he stepped back and let them do what they do best. A very rare quality in a businessman, especially a CEO.
True, but isn't the point of being a Linux geek to show how the world would be better without any Windows or Gates? Notice I didn't say
Would it? Isn't there a place for all software? I dislike any MS OS, from 3.1 to 2003 but they do have their place (I have no idea where myself) but some people do prefer Windows, especially gamers.
No, I do not believe there is a place for all software. I have been asked over the years to use my skills and knowledge to allow employers to spy upon workers. I have refused to aid and abet that sort of behavior. That was a conscious decision to take a stand. I made it fully understanding that I would never work for the Government again and that I could kiss my Top Secret clearance goodbye. I never looked back and I sleep quite well at night.
I learned a lot from using the earlier Linuxes but I would not like to go back to them. Nor do I see anyone voluntarily going back to Wordstar or WordPerfect when you had to install a printer driver, screen fonts and mouse driver for each program you wanted to run. Integrated GUI's have come a long way and they meet a need. When they are done right they are invisible to the User which is how it should be. Not everyone is a programmer or a hardware Geek. Some users just want to get some work done and they don't care how it works, just that it does.
I run Slackware on all my home servers except for one, I just installed Fedora Core 3 (grudgingly), on my intranet/print server machine. Suse runs on my laptop, because I don't like to fuss with desktops, I just want them to run. The problem with Linspire is that it's minimum (for V) is 800Mhz.
I am running Linspire 5.0 on my circa 2000 TuxTop with a Pentium III 500MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, 12GB Hardrive and DVD/CD player. It uses a Linksys "G" pcmcia wireless network adapter and a USB connection to my cell phone when I want to dial in to my ISP to check my email. I paid $3000 for the laptop 5 years ago. If I weren't a charter member of the Cheap Bastards Club I would buy a new 2.9 lb laptop from WalMart with a 1GHz CPU, 40 GB hardrive, built in 56K modem, pcmcia slots, etc for $825 that comes with Linspire 5.0 preloaded and certified to run on that laptop.
All of my "servers" (loosely called), is that they're old machines that my job just wanted to throw out. P100, PII233's, PII350s, and one AMD K6-2 400, my main server is a T-Bird 800 and my laptop is the screamer at a whopping 2.4G! =P So I have two machines it will run on, and since it doesn't come with Apache, Mysql on it, and has a high overhead it's out for a server, when I can install Slackware with no GUI and it runs ultra fast on that P 100.
Linspire is not supposed to be a server OS. I have an old 486 12Mhz server that I have been running Redhat 5 on for over (I think) 11 years at work. I snuck it in to replace a Pentium 100 running Windows NT 4.0 that could not keep up with the demand. Linux isn't just for servers anymore. Now it is found in servers, desktops, laptops, and even pda's!
Not to mention Tivo's and related DVR's.
Linspire and Suse are great distros to give people a reason to try a
"no fuss" Linux distro that is simple to install and easy to use. Granted this is all just my opinion.
Yep, they are going after the "user" market just like the automakers went after the "driver" market. Nothing wrong with that. There will always be enthusiasts but they will always be a minority of the whole. Otherwise, what good are "bragging rights"? It sure don't put more money in your pocket.
Rick [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
