Linux usability [ was: RE: Changing IP Addresses]

[Brian Densmore]

comments in-line
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Joshua Bergland [mailto:kclug at mrj412.com] 
> 
> 
>[Off Topic Rant] 
>I think this is a big problem in Linux, the configuration tools 
>should work out of the box. The user shouldn't have to remove the 
>tools and hunt down text files following a HOWTO file. 
Absolutely! Personally, I've never had trouble with linuxconf, but 
lot's of people do.

>but this is part of what drove me back to 
>Windows. One other thing that drove me back was a lack of 
>software, or actually, the inclusion of a lot of software that almost 
>meets my needs. For example, I found that Gnumeric works great and 
>even imported my Excel spreadsheet, but upon saving it, it couldn't. 
Applixware is a professional quality product, but also will cost you.
Gnumeric is Open Source, and reflects that. It is a work on progress.
There is KOffice. It is getting close to fully usable. Star Office also
usable. Although I have issues with it.

>... Last thing: I quickly discovered that RPM 
>dependency hell is worse that Windows DLL ever was. 

Software installation is a major MAJOR problem with Linux.
Which is one reason why I am working on a new distro. I plan on
making this a Linux Standard Base (LSB) compliant. And incorporate a 
"dependency tree" algorithm to handle software installation. Something 
like apt-get, but capable of using RPMs. I think that RPMs need to be 
supported, because it is so widely available and the most common form. 
I'd also like to include an AI application that can determine how to 
build sources. This would do a lot to make Linux more usable by "non-
techies".