Frank wrote:
>> There is a HUGE need for a distro that doesn't offer so many options
that it drives would be users away.... <<
I think you have many good ideas, but speaking as a Windows user who has
recently installed Mandrake 8, it wasn't the large number of options
that is the problem, but the unfinished business of the GUI after you
get the thing installed. The first time I installed, I chose the default
options for my own purposes and did not pick and choose individual
programs. I reinstalled Linux in a couple of days because I felt I
didn't know what was on the system. I've always done Custom Installs of
all my Windows programs (including Windows itself!) and I don't like to
depend on what other people think I should have. So I reinstalled Linux
with a custom installation and went through the entire programs list in
the Mandrake graphical installer. I was, frankly, much happier with that
because I had a better idea of what was available and what I did and did
not want.
I think it would be fine for something like the Mandrake installer to
offer an additional option called "Basic" that would include a
pre-selected, limited number of programs. A user can always install
others after using the system for a bit.
The real problems come after you start using Linux--or trying to. I
still haven't gotten my system set up to the stage where I can try some
productivity apps "for real." My current problem is getting my Type 1
and TrueType fonts installed and available to the programs I want to
use. This is one of the roughest edges of Linux on the desktop. Its font
handling is abstruse, unfriendly, poor, and just plain weird. It's
totally different from Windows or the Mac. Where is something like Adobe
Type Manager when we need it? Even in my Windows 3.0 days, my PostScript
fonts were rasterized correctly for the screen and printer (PostScript
or not) and they were available seamlessly to all my applications that
were font-capable. I find it astonishing that fonts seem to be an
afterthought on the Linux desktop. Gajillions of often-ugly screen fonts
get installed. How can I dump them? All they do is make for a long font
list of useless junk. It's hard to find the necessary information
because context-sensitive help isn't here yet.
Another example of something that is unacceptable as it stands now: the
first time I tried to eject a Zip disk, it wouldn't go. First I got
scared that it was stuck in the drive (an ATAPI internal). Then I
thought I'd try doing an eject command in a console. Somehow that
worked--I don't know how I figured out how to include the /mnt/zip
qualifier. Eventually I kinda sorta figured out how to deal with Zip
disks, which get mounted through the supermount feature in Mandrake 8,
but still have to be unmounted by root in order to eject them.
Doubtless, I could fix that up so user could do it--but I don't know
how. I also don't know where to look and the directions would have to be
in something other than geekspeak, which is probably an unrealistic
expectation.<g>
I could give you a list of other things that would quickly drive
would-be users away, as you put it. I think they could all be solved,
probably in short order if some distro truly wanted to appeal to Windows
users who want to become Linux users but not techies. I don't think it's
too many choices that drive people away, but an interface that is too
thin and quickly leaves the unprepared user in the clutches of long,
obscure command lines. This won't fly, folks. No matter how wonderful
the underlying architecture is, it has to be easy to use to have a
chance of succeeding as a desktop OS.
--Judy Miner
