On Fri, Mar 08, 2002 at 12:37:25AM +1100, Jeff Waugh wrote:
> <quote who="Tom Massey">
> 
> > Well, Mandrake you can install by clicking [OK] a couple of times.  Debian
> > you generally have to actually use the keyboard a little. Once installed,
> > you can pretty much configure Mandrake entirely with a mouse, Debian tends
> > to prefer keyboard here again. Please don't say at this point that the
> > command line is a more powerful interface than mouse clicking
> 
> I won't, because by and large, the Debian installation does not require the
> use of the command line. Ah yes, it is certainly in character mode, and
> requires manipulation of the language-driven (as opposed to visually driven)
> article of hardware known as the 'keyboard', but it is certainly not
> "command line".

Ah true. I don't think I said that a Debian install required the command
line per se, just that you couldn't click [OK] a few times to complete
the install - you often have to type stuff as well, in my experience.
Basic point being that a Mandrake install is likely to be a more familiar
experience to new users who've used Windows, than a Debian install.
Unless they've played with a lot of old MS-DOS apps, with that blue
background and so on. That always gives me flashbacks to WordPerfect
5.2.

> > I agree with that, but new users coming from Windows, as many probably
> > will be, will disagree. Mandrake eases new
> 
> *That's* where you start to make sense, but not based on your aforementioned
> reasoning. Mandrake is slick, beautiful, designed for desktop use on modern
> hardware, and shows off Free Software at its best. That's what makes Windows
> users intrigued, and perhaps comfortable.

Dear me, I spent *hours* on that pool analogy in the hopes of being
featured on distrowatch.com or similar and there you go wiping it out
with a couple ^Hs ;-). Yes, Mandrake is very slick. And they tend to
GPL their slickness, which is nice.

Please note that this email comes to you via a Debian box that most
likely wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for Mandrake 5.2 (or whatever
it was). Still occasionally feel the need to wave the flag a little.
<Puffs on cigar, feels vaguely like an Agatha Christie colonel>
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