I have been using OpenSolaris for half a year now and I like it. I am even thinking of starting a business around it but before I can do something like that I need to get some things fixed. These aren't very big things but they annoy me and I can not understand why an OS would do it. I certainly would not put up with this kind of stuff from MS so why should I here.
First, the version of OpenOffice that comes from the repository is broken. I do not know why or how but it will not spell check and will not give me the option to download updates. I usually fix this by deleting the repository version and downloading openoffice from their website direclty. However, this still needs to be fixed, or at least tell me what I need to do to get the repository version to behave right. If I sell a computer to someone and they try to get the repository OOO and it won't work right, they will return the thing. I don't want them returning their computers. I want them happy. Second, the extras repository refused to allow me to download packages a few weeks before the new version came out. Now that I have upgraded to the new version everthing is fine but suppose someone did not want to upgrade so fast. They would be stuck downloading Flash from Adobe and then once they have it, will have no idea how to get it to work. I finally opened up the IPS and used it to see where the thing was supposed to go, but then I had to use the terminal to put it there with CP. It refused to let me just move the file to the correct folder. I understand that there are security concerns here but at least let me do these kinds of things on my computer. Why does root only work in the terminal. Why can't I be root in the GUI as well when I need to be? At any rate this is two problems and customers will likely encounter both if they are not fixed. Third, the edit menus button breaks for no reason all the time. Nothing I do can fix it. If I want to change a menu, tough luck. I first noticed this after I downloaded wesnoth from Blastwave and could not add the launcher to the menu. Randomly it will work but on most computers I have used OpenSolaris on, once it stops working the only thing left is to reinstall. It is just too much of a hassle to go looking through folders to find an app and then go to the terminal just to run the thing since you will probably need to be root to make it run. Related to the above, there is an app called alacarte.desktop in the usr/share/applications. This appears to also allow you to edit menus. However, it is always broken. The one next to it opens a menu editor that is only half working but will not actually change anything no matter if you click boxes or not. Fourth, on my laptop there are still many buttons and things that do not work right. I do not really use these most of the time and I do not plan on selling laptops so maybe I should just not worry about it. However it does bother me that the scroll on the touch pad does not work. I am happy to see that the volume buttons do how work in the new version. Fifth, and this is not really a problem but I figured I would mention it. I used Solaris 10 for about a month before diciding that was not for me. It just could not connect to the internet no matter what I did to it, not even after I tried to follow the instructions on how to do so from Blastwave. However, after changing to opensolaris I did notice the big difference in the desktop. I have to admit, I like the JDS better then the standard Gnome and for a while I did not even know they were the same thing. Let's face it, they look very different. I did figure out how rearraing the standard Gnome to look like the JDS and so this is not a problem but every time I do this, the Edit Menus button breaks. I'll be honest though, doing just about anything will make the Edit Menus button break. Install wine, it breaks. Install Wesnoth and it breaks. there is something seriously wrong with the Edit Menus button. Sixth, I am happy to see that shutdown time was greatly improved. However, one of my desktops, the one I downloaded most of the packages from the repository onto, the system refuses to shutdown. It will kill the GUI and give me a black screen with writting on it but it will not actually turn off the computer. I have to instead tell it to restart and then manually press the power button when the Grub comes back. That is a hassle I do not like and I know my potential customers will not like. They will think the computer is broken if it does that and return it. Seventh, and I know this is probably not Sun's fault or the openSolaris community's fault but still, wine does not work right. As mentioned above, if you install wine, the Edit Menus button breaks but beyond that it still does not work right. Sure I can install my old copy of Staroffice and it works fine but only way to get to Staroffice to run it is from the Others tab in the menu. And good thing it is there because Wine give you zero options for finding programs loaded into it, it gives you no way to search through its file system to find programs. If an application does not show up in Others then you just better forget it, you can not run it. Again, I know this is just because Wine does not work but at the same time other issues are raised. The only way to get VLC on OpenSolaris it seems to to compile it yourself or run the windows version in wine or Virtualbox. If you use wine, there is no way to actually run VLC and I am still stuck using Totem to try to and fail to play DVDs. VLC is opensource. Now I am not that big of an opensource guy but I do now use OpenSolaris for my computing needs and I just figure that an opensource program should be portable. I am not a computer engineer so maybe this is just above my head. I can not compile this myself to run it, I need a programmer to do it. If it is a policy thing then I understand but I thought part of this whole thing was community. Surely someone in the community besides me is interested in having this program. Eighth, Adobe Reader is great to have and all but it is really slow. I just as soon not have it with it being this slow and installing it breaks the Edit menus button anyway. Then again, I think if I just happen to sneeze in sight of my computer the Edit Menus button will break. Sorry to be so negative. Believe me, I would not even bother to post if I did not really like this OS and want it to be better so that I could build computers with it to sell to customers. I just need these pesky things fixed. On and by the way, did compiz ever get fixed? I have not tried it since it locked up 2 computers to the point of needing to be reinstalled. -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
