I think its also important to standardise on an alternative to setup.exe a self extracting self running executable for binary installations... source is great but newbies don't know the differences.. they need a setup file that either loads binaries, or compiles automatically... (and would have to be able to make sure a compiler is loaded, and it would need to be able to install on if it wasn't....) Sort of code weavers wine from what I hear...
if newbies can install stuff as easily as they do in winblows, it would go along way to getting things on a more even footing.. rgds Frank -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of tek1 Sent: Sunday, 25 November 2001 12:49 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [newbie] The problem with Linux i think that one of the major reasons why linux hasn't succeeded on the desktop yet is partially due to the various distributions, but more so, i feel, due to the lack of software on linux that end users can easily install and import their files from windows. (that is what is preventing me from making the full switch at this point.) the distributions may be slightly different, but one can view the different distributions (which majorly differ in installation) as different versions of windows - windows2000pro is drastically different from windows3.51. different, but users were still able to make the adjustment. also, users don't switch between distributions so much (once they install one), which is why i feel windows-software-compatible programs on linux that are easy for the end user to install are more key. look at the overwhelming positive reception of staroffice. other programs like staroffice, i'm certain, will be well received by newbie linux users, and will help with the gradual migration from windows to linux. on the software installation issue, having a fairly standard and very-easy-to-use easy rpm manager and all software (for end-users) being packaged in rpm format would probably solve part of the problem. as for the kernel changes causing problems with software (produced by developers), it is a difficult issue. however, one solution, i feel is to develop programs in java (you can probably tell that i'm a java developer). ;) the java virtual machine (jvm) provides a cushion between the software and the os so that changes in the os will most likely be taken care of by updates in the jvm. non-experienced linux end users really should not be updating the kernel (kind of similar to the problems that ms' service packs cause...) because doing so may open pandora's box and cause a lot of problems with existing software. having an easy way for end-users to easily upgrade the jvm (like the way mac os x handles upgrades) would probably be a lot easier for the end-user and developer's programs would still work (for the most part). ;) perhaps the jvm updater could be integrated with the rpm package manager, and the rpm pkg mgr could be made more simplified for the end-user. i have just started getting into linux recently and the way i see it is that linux was in its 1st generation (mostly command-line and used by hard core developers), but has now matured in its 2nd generation (lots of easy-to-use distributions, much more gui-based tools/software, some windows-software-compatible software: staroffice, jbuilder/forte, etc., and linux coming pre-installed on some pc's by major manufacturers). in the soon-to-come 3rd generation, i see more and more major software companies producing linux versions of their software (as they could probably care less about the os, as long as end-users buy their software and those companies are armed-twisted by ms), the existing tools becoming having even easier-to-use gui interfaces, all pc manufactures offering an array of linux-based systems (as plentiful as the current windows-based offerings), and hardware manufacturers also providing linux drivers for all of their products. i would really like to thank mandrake though b/c i think that they've done a superb job with the installation and other parts. if it weren't for mandrake, i probably wouldn't be using linux today, as previous efforts with red hat distributions were unsuccessful. hats off to all the open-source linux developers as well b/c the drivers and software has greatly improved since my early efforts over a year ago. thank you. linux's day is coming very soon... :)
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