I will play the Devil's advocate here: >No gaming support - Mandriva has an entire product line devoted to >gaming, but the gaming developers didn't work with it and the end users >didn't try it out. It was subsequently dropped.
Yes, and "It was subsequently dropped" is the issue. Linux just does not have a big enough market on the desktop to attract both the developers and the customers. And even if a game developer ports their game one time, they typically do not put out updates like they do for Windows, so the Linux version typically lags behind. Yes, there are exceptions, but die-hard gamers want to play the latest games their friends have, not spend their time explaining why Linux does not have them. >Little/no OEM support - Mandriva has had an OEM certification program >for years. Yes, but how many OEMs put Mandriva on their systems and laptops? How many stores carried those pre-installed Mandriva systems? >No iPod support - Amarok. Right out of the box. Don't have an iPod, so I can not comment. >No migration tool - Mandriva has has a built-in migration tool for >quite some time now - Transfugdrake - right in the System area of the >control center. Does it go in and extract all your email, contacts and everything from your Microsoft Exchange system and set it up for you? Some of these answers he got sound as if they are from "home users" and some from "enterprise users". >Driver/hardware confusion - For 90% of hardware out there, you don't >need it. "Also, the fact that there’s no such thing as a “works with >Linux” logo..." Yes, there is. I have a bunch of stickers with the >one I designed and I'm sure there are others. I think he is talking about having boxes from Creative Labs, ATI, Nvidea, etc. that have something like the Windows logo on them, or under "System Requirements" in product specifications having "Linux Version 2.6.31 - Intel - 32 bit", or by having the device driver included on the CD-ROM in the box. There was an attempt years ago to have a "Linux Hardware Certification Program" by a friend of mine through the company Linuxcare, but it (and Linuxcare) tanked. Maybe it is time to try again. >Free tech support dries up - http://www.mandrivausers.org Yes, I agree that "Free Tech Support" is still out there via the Internet. I think what he is talking about is more along the lines of a friend coming over to help you get installed....then you calling the friend to come over and help you set up your networking, then you calling the (same) friend to come over and help you do your back up...and after a while your friend does not return your calls any more because they are trying to find a job that will help them pay their mortgage. Since there are roughly nine times as many windows users, you get to spread your "Free Tech Support" needs to nine times as many friends. >Confusion about distro differences - OK, I'll give him that one. It is more like "ten" instead of just "one". One of most prevalent questions out there...."Which distro is right for me?" If I am not trying to pay my mortgage, I may even give them a long and detailed answer....but most of the time I just say "Ubuntu" or "Fedora" or "OpenSUSE"....maybe now I will add "Mandriva". md _______________________________________________ gnhlug-discuss mailing list gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-discuss/
