* On Sun Jun-12-2005 at 01:33:02 PM -0700, Zac Medico said: > Athul Acharya wrote: [...] > > I mean lets face it, a distro that's largely DIY is hardly a good > > first Linux, but an excellent second Linux and indeed thats the very > > reason why I use Gentoo. Let Redhat/Fedora/Mandrake do the initial > > user grab, that's what they're good at. > > OTOH, most computer users are unable to or uninterested in > installing/configuring an OS. All they need is someone to setup > Gentoo for them and they can basically use it like they would an MS > Windows "appliance".
[Sorry, I've gone OT with this...] I have a friend who is clueless when it comes to computers. I've set up Gentoo for him -- after Mandrake, of all distros, was a pain to get working with his pc -- and he's just stoked that he doesn't have to worry about websites ruining his PC with ads and spyware. I have to maintain it, but Gentoo makes that a breeze since I can log in from home and update as necessary. Gentoo draws a line between user and admin, while most OSs try to get rid of this line. I think it's an important line to have for now. There may not be as much danger in using a computer as driving a vehicle, but it's still a machine which requires knowledge to safely operate well. Most users simply aren't willing to learn what they should know since they only see the computer as a means to an end. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but I sympathize with users who suffer through needless OS problems just because they are in the habit of clicking OK to the 100 message boxes they see pop up daily. Even if that message box is really just a web page with a graphical link that runs some ActiveX code... I got sidetracked; my main point was that Gentoo is a great OS for even the most careless user, as long as there is an admin to keep the system running safely and smoothly. Many thanks to the Gentoo devs, who have made this solid distro a pleasure to run for everyone from server admins to PDA users. (Note: I don't have Gentoo running on my PDA yet... but as soon as I can boot the kernel that'll be my next goal) -- Sami Samhuri
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