[LUNI] Microsoft loses 10,000 (so far) in Extremadura, Spain

[Steve Litt]

On Monday 04 November 2002 05:17 pm, you wrote:
> Robert Jacobsen wrote:
> > I couldn't agree more! I've been running a Linux desktop at home for
> > almost 2 years now and I prefer it over my Win 2000 work laptop.
> >
> > Those who say Linux is not ready for the desktop are probably associated,
> > in some way, to Microsoft or have been brainwashed by those
> > Congresscritters.
>
> Well, as someone who is not nor have I ever been in the employ of
> Microsoft and has not been brainwashed by Congresscritters, I still say
> that Linux is not quite ready for the desktop. :-)  More specifically,
> GNU/Linux, but Linux itself, too.
>
> When will I consider Linux to be "desktop ready"?  When all of the
> following conditions are met:
>
> 1) User can add, remove, and upgrade software cleanly;
> That includes adding and removing modules from larger programs, as well
> as the system itself.

Then Windows isn't ready for the desktop either. Removing software invariably 
leaves little bugs and inefficiencies. Installing software often clobbers 
formerly working existing apps.

>
> 2) User can add, remove, and reconfigure hardware cleanly;
> That includes adding and removing modules from the kernel (aka Drivers)

This is a function of the hardware vendors. If this is a criteria for "not 
ready for the desktop", Linux will never be ready, especially now that the 
government has given them a 7 year pass from the country's antitrust 
legislation.

>
> 3) User can add, remove, and reconfigure customizations cleanly;

If this is a criteria, I don't think Windows is ready for the desktop.

>
> 4) All of the above can be accomplished without
> (a) touching a command line, or
> (b) recompiling anything.

Most of the preceding can be done without recompiling. And as far as touching 
the command line, writing front-ends for configuration files is usually 
trivial. So as new software comes out, new configuration utilities will 
quickly appear.

>
> Until the above conditions are met, GNU/Linux will not be "Desktop
> ready".  Why?  Because the kind of people who use "desktops" (as opposed
> to "workstations", even with the blurring technological lines) are
> *scared away* by the command line and the compiler.  As well they should
> be.

The user you're talking about needs internet access, email, web browsing, 
multimedia, and an office suite. Mandrake 8.2 yields a setup with these 
things, no command line or compiling necessary.

>
> Compiling is, and will always be, a potentially dangerous activity.
> Typical users should not have to deal with that.
>
> The Command line is an interface optimzed for users who know what
> they're doing already.  The learning curve is higher than for a
> well-designed GUI.  It requires the user to remember commands, rather
> than just recognize them.  Sure, the folks on this list are comfortable
> with it, but most people are not, nor do they have any desire to be, nor
> should they have any reason to be.

Using the UMENU menuing software with prompted argument substitution, I can 
quickly put a front end on almost any comand or command line program. The one 
thing UMENU doesn't yet have is a file-choosing utility. UMENU can be 
installed by a tecnomoron.

SteveT