Re: Fedora Core (was Xandros 2.0)

[mike808@users.sourceforge.net]

> 1. Pre-installed Samba. Why should this be pre-installed?

1. Because your wife's and kids' computers still run Windows XP, and you need to
immediately use the networked printers and disk shares you've setup between them
-- that worked perfectly before you installed this new "Linux" thing.

We're talking Windows Refugees and some SOHO users here. Not "mid-size"
businesses, which would have even *MORE* of a reason to include a
easy-as-windows to install network sharing of disk and printers.

2. It comes pre-installed with Windows. Why should it be left out of a Linux?

> 2. Fedora doesn't include OpenOffice? Uhh... wanna check again?

Pre-installed as part of the "default" install? I'm not talking about "you can
get on the internet and download the rest of the 600MB of applications that you
want to install" here.

> 3. You're supposed to use Roxio CD Creator or Nero to burn Fedora CDs?

1. Assume you don't have *ANY* Linux programs.
2. You download some CD ISO image from the "internet".
3. What are you assuming will be used to "burn" the initial install CD with?

Does WindowsXP come with a burn program? I know most CD burners come with one,
but they're *WINDOWS* programs, usually "starter" versions of Roxio or Nero.

> Where does it say that? They'll work, sure, and they may be the best
> tools available to newbies struggling to break away from Windows.

They are the *ONLY* tools available for newbies struggling to break away from
Windows.

> For those of us who have been Linux users since RHL v3.0.1, 

But we're not talking about those folks. We're talking about folks that have
never seen another OS than Windows. Ground Zero folks.

*THAT* is who Xandros and Lindows are targeting. They want to 1) not hurt their
(working) Windows installation in any way, 2) want a pretty box to put alongside
the pretty boxes of their other software, 3) and someone to hold their hand as
they explore this "Linux" thing.

That's why I asked the "phone support" question, when Steve noted that Xandros
was deficient in that area. I added on that this was true of pretty much all the
distros, and love them or not, Lindows seems to be the only one that appear to
be successful in delivering on that (even though SuSE actually has it, Lindows
marketing is much, much better).

> cdrecord is the hands down tool of choice for burning ISOs to CD-Rs.

I've never found a Windows-only user that has ever heard of it, much less used
it -- on Windows, and in preference to the "free" XP burner, CD Creator, or Nero
that came with their CD drive.

> My 'burn' custom script is one of a couple dozen I always copy to
> /usr/local/bin.

I posit that the number of new-to-Linux Windows users (i.e. 90+% of Windows
users) with your "custom script" is exactly *zero*.

> If you were to characterize Xandros as a good beginner's or transition
> distribution, I'd probably agree with you 100%. But better than Fedora?

As a good beginners distribution or transition distribution, my position is 
that Xandros is better than Fedora. Hands down. Not even close. Part of my point
with my "recommendation" was to illustrate that if such a commentary is to have
value, one needs to understand the assumptions and viewpoint from which the
distribution is being "reviewed". The point was that Steve's "recommendation" 
that Xandros is unfit for use was just as flawed as my own of Fedora -- for the
same reasons.

> Not for anyone who's been a daily Linux user for more than a few months.

Don't forget your assumption that it must also be someone who has chosen to go
completely Microsoft-free. In which case there are other distros to consider
than just Fedora for that demographic. And many folks find Xandros (or Lindows
for that matter) is just enough of Linux to whet their appetite, but they're 
not ready to take the plunge and go MS-free, and are quite comfortable with the
as-you-want-to-play-with-it nature of a dual-boot system.

Mike/

---------------------------------------------
http://www.valuenet.net



-
To unsubscribe, send email to majordomo@silug.org with
"unsubscribe silug-discuss" in the body.