ease of use debate

[Jeremy Fowler]

> OK, you're crazy and diluted, or did you mean deluded? ;-)  Seriously, I did
> feel a feeling of accomplishment when I edited my lilo.conf file to make my
> computer boot properly, but, honestly, it did not outweigh the frustration
> of not having it work correctly in the first place.  On the plus side, I did
> install mandrake 8.0 on my 'puter with only the one small lilo.conf problem,
> so that was an improvement.  Of course, this was after about 2 weeks of
> internet researcha nd reading up on it.

Nope not deluded as in to mislead, deceive, or beguile. Rather I meant what I
said, diluted; as in not quite all there, absent of mind, or whacked. ;-)

Hey, I'm all for things working right the first time, and I can empathize with
your frustration. I've been there myself. However, I doubt I would know as much
as I do now if things were that easy. I think the biggest weakness with Linux is
the old "Too many cooks" cliché. You get all these developers all over the world
adding and changing code at amazing speed in all these various open source
applications it's almost impossible to keep up with. Add to that all the
different configurations available and the sheer number of choices a person has.
Sendmail, qmail, or postfix; wu-ftp, ftpd or pure-ftpd; KDE, Gnome, or
Enlightenment. Name a service, job, or function and there will be three or four
choices to choose from and all of these programs are supposed to work together
flawlessly the first time? Hogwash! The reason everything (for the most part)
installs and runs as expected on Windows is that Windows is the only OS
configuration the developers ever have to test on. Where as in Linux, you have
dozens of distributions with hundreds of possible configurations. Now how on
earth is anyone able to keep up with that? As far as I'm concerned, the Linux
community as a whole does a very good job at it. The only feasible way is to
limit choices a person has. By saying you have to use such and such distro with
such and such version with a such and such configuration or your SOL. Which I
seriously doubt will ever happen. Linux users love the choices they have, that's
one of the reasons we love it so. If one app doesn't work for me I choose
something else. Where as Microsoft your stuck with pretty much what you get, or
maybe a one or two other less used choices.

>
> The thing is, not everyone has time to do that kind of research.  Some
> people just want to install their software and use it, not read listserve
> archives and the LDP for hours to solve a problem.  If linux is going to
> make any headway it is going to have to make some moves in this direction.
> And I don't buy the line about life being hard, BTW. If this is so (and it
> certainly isn't for everyone) it seems all the more reason to make as many
> aspects of it as simple as possible.

Linux is making headway, or haven't you been keeping up with current events? ;-)
I was exaggerating in my rant to stress a point. Linux isn't for everyone; Love
it, leave it, or fix it. Those are your choices. We can talk until we are blue
in the face about how better it would be if Linux just did <fill in blank>
better. Very few people actually go out and make a difference by implementing
it. I don't mean to chastise and you all make good points. Like the saying goes,
Opinions are like assholes, everyone's got one. -J