Hello, I have just visited comp.os.linux and found this interesting "article" and
would like to share it (I think its preety related) and hear your comments/replies.
<article>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux,linux.redhat
From: M3283att Gi538wer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Acceptance of Linux and development
The last time I mentioned this I was talking about Grandma's Linux
and something too simple to be ignored as an MS replacement. I have been
thinking which of course is dangerous.
Even if we are not all linux purists there are many of us who
simply want to bring down MS. Not because were really dislike an
OS which brought computers to the masses and created jobs for so many of
us but because we view so many of the policies of MS as destructive to the
community even if we are stockholders.
Every distribution I have heard of or used
emphasizes multiuser and server as its main thrust.
What is wrong with that picture?
When linux is pure server it gains market share. Would not a linux
which is pure desktop single user also be expected to gain market share?
But there is not pure desktop user release that I know of.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
MS has done one thing very right from its start or when I first
used it msdos 3.0, it focused upon the single user. It grew outward from
there to the LAN and the internet. Linux started with the LAN, jumped
to the internet and never looked backwards to Grandma, the single user.
Of course Grandma can still use it but as any rational person will
say, we will give Grandma MS Windows and AOL. That is the problem. There
is nothing in the linux world to substitute for that combination but there
should be.
Maybe not 'should be' but there _has to be_ to start getting a
significant share of the desktop market to be credible. The Redhat
distribution makes it obvious. While I forget the third, two
of the choices are server and workstation. Grandma does not want a
server but does she want a workstation? Her Perl and C++
skills are limited to say the least.
The RPM distribution idea is a very good step in this direction.
If that were not time limited for Grandma's distributoin it would be
great. But it is not enough as the latest and greatest "flash" or whatever
is not written for linux and never will until it has a significant home
user market share and that won't happen until ... a neverending circle.
A consumer distribution is needed. But time has passed so even
if Grandma is happy your neighbor already has Windows with every computer
he buys. Linux is sold for those who want to know more and
do more. But for the average user it trails behind MS in a catchup game.
[BTW: I use the term Grandma loosely. I am nearly a Grandpa and
we first got into PCs 24 years ago. So it should be
great-grandma. How times do change and pass us by. The issue is only
simplicity and rock solid for a few hours a night.]
</article>
EOF
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<a href="http://eg-site.tripod.com";>Eliran</a>
The right of self-defense is the first law of nature: in most
governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right
within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies
are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear
arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited,
liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of
destruction."
-- Henry St. George Tucker (in Blackstone's Commentaries)
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