On Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:23:05 -0400, Lang Murphy wrote:
[color=blue]
> I've said it many time before, and I'll say it again... nix ain't ready for
> "Joe Normal."
>
> Sorry, I forget the person who suggested I try PCLinuxOS, and, that said, I
> d/l'd it today and installed it on a desktop. (Tried installing it on a
> laptop with a wireless NIC, but, uh, no go?)
>
> So I installed PCLOS, as it's called, on a desktop. Install went OK. Got to
> the desktop fine. Where's the Network icon? None. How does one access the
> local network? Ah, open "My Computer". Heh, heh, heh... then open "Remote
> Places." Then open "Local Network", only to receive the msg "The Lisa daemon
> does not appear to be running. In order to use the LAN browser, the Lisa
> daemon must be installed and activated by the system administrator."
>
> Uh, OK... where does one go from here? (NOT looking for answers from nix
> folks, it's a rhetorical question.)
>
> Is it so hard to put a "Network" icon on the desktop?
>
> Is it so hard to have that functionality be transparent to the user? Is the
> "Joe Normal" user going to know how to log on as administrator and install
> and activate the Lisa daemon? Uh, no?
>
> OK... this may appear to be an attack on nix... it's not, believe me. Were
> one to have the time to determine how to install and activate the Lisa
> daemon... well, no issue, right? One can figure it out -eventually-, right?
>
> And, of course, I'm not saying that Vista is "issue free." That said... when
> I install Vista, I get a "Network" icon on the desktop that takes me right
> to the stuff I'm tryng to access. No "install Lisa daemon" stuff...
>
> So, yeah, Vista's not "issue free." We all know it, and I'd be a dope to
> claim otherwise.
>
> And I -am- most interested in trying different nix distros; ones that might
> be considered "Joe Normal" friendly.
>
> Have yet to discover -that- nix distro.
>
> And, no, don't tell me Ubutnu. Been there, done that.[/color]

Well I am telling you Ubuntu. Go there, do that again. =P

As far as I am concerned, it is by far the most newbie friendly.
Everything else doesn't even register on the radar for me honestly.

Though, disregarding OS, I think we all forget one big thing.

Does "Joe Average" go out, buy an OS, and install it on their computer?
No, "Joe Average" generally does not do that. Sure, there are
exceptions...but generally speaking, "Joe Average" simply goes out and
buys a computer with the OS pre-installed.

"Joe Average" would likely have plenty of problems installing and
configuring *any* operating system, I don't care who makes it and what it
is called. There can be a fair share of problems installing windows too.
Right now I am dealing with the problem that my file system under XP isn't
quite toast yet but appears to have damage from somewhere (non-hardware
related, disk passes any and all tests I have thrown at it). But I also
can't re-install XP because not a *single* XP install CD I have, and I
have several, will boot on this computer (*nix live CDs as well as the
maxtor diagnostic cd boot fine though ruling out a problem with the
drive)! Appears that the problem resides with the XP Setup's inability to
handle certain types of partitions or too many of them causing it to
freeze in the very beginning.

Could "Joe Average" deal with this? Actually yea Joe Average could...by
taking it to a computer shop and having the OS installed for them...

What I am trying to get at is that everyone focuses too much on the one
thing that most uses do the list: "Installing the OS".

This can be anything ranging from a pleasant experience to an absolute
nightmare with every OS depending on the hardware thrown at it. Vista
Included!

What's more important, and nobody appears to care about this, is using the
OS once it is installed and configured. I rank that far higher than any
problems I could ever encounter when installing and configuring an OS.

And in that regard, I just recently set up a co-worker with Ubuntu who had
a WinXP install so horribly messed up it was beyond repair. His level of
technical knowledge is so low that he thought having 60
concurrently running malware, spyware and virus processes was normal. No,
I am not exaggerating. I counted them.Ya really think he would be able to
install any version of windows or would know where to even start? Even if
said installation were easier than say Ubuntu?

He's had absolutely zero problems with Ubuntu once I installed and
configured it. He just happily uses it. Reinstalling XP would have been
pointless as it would have been a matter of time until it became that
infected with crap again.

--
Stephan
2003 Yamaha R6

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