John H. Robinson, IV wrote:
I disagree with that. There is no need why working hardware has to be
abandonded.
You are correct that it should not be abandoned. But old hardware
probably shouldn't be used by the casual user. They will not want the
hassle. And then they will complain about how difficult Linux is to use.
When was the last time you tried to install Debian? You do know that the
installer has had a major re-write since Woody, right? As in, the old
code was dropped and it was started anew.
So what is debian's excuse for the crappy installer for so many years
while everyone else was doing so much better? They shot themselves in
the foot so badly that even Ubuntu, a much newer distro based on debian
with the lameness removed, seems to be quite a bit more useful to people.
Can the casual home user get by without an office suite? I've never met
^^^^ ^^^^^^
one who could.
How can the hardcore office user get by without a home suite? I don't
see how your question even applies.
We call it an "office" suite because that is the convention but everyone
uses them at home too. Word processing, spreadsheet, etc.
There are lighterweight ``office''-style programs for UNIX than Open
Office. They may not be Microsoft Office compatible, but they get the
job done if that is what you need.
If they aren't MS Office compatible it seems unlikely that the casual
user will be happy with it. Most of the documents that get written these
days seem to be written for the purpose of sharing with someone else.
It's been a long time since I actually printed a document to put in the
mail to someone. Maybe a student would use it to hand in an assignment.
The nice thing about Debian is that most of them are already included,
even if they are not installed by default.
I think I'll download some Debian and Ubuntu ISO's and give them each a
try in qemu.
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