🚀 go-pugleaf

I understand that Linux is an OS that is non platform specific - and not
particularly hardware specific with reference to video cards etc., but I DO
think it would be a VERY good idea to develop particular shrink wrapped
products for the average user to install just as they would Win98 or NT

If the COmputer industry wants to provide a more than feable attempt at
competition to Microsoft, then there needs to be a simple "install and use"
package based around Linux that includes a GUI - something not too
dissimilar to Windows

Sadly, the majority of people that do have 99% of clout in the Computer
business have always been the 1% of users, namely the IT managers, that went
to school specifically for Unix/Linux programming

That is how Microsoft has won the lead - they provided for a huge market
that had been overlooked by the snobbery of the IT community

That is not aimed at anyone imparticular, but it a stance that is held by
the IT profession that needs to change if we are to see a fair market in the
new millenium

To finish - what kind of future do you think Microsoft would have if they
had a real competitor ???

OS/2 Warp is unknown - mainly though IBM's disinterest in marketing its' own
product
VMS - Well - it's going whether by choice or by force
Unix - Well - it's like having 500 different versions of the English
language...






Keith Higgs wrote in message <371B5CD9.E7C931CD@po.cwru.edu>...
>There will probably never be just one default GUI that loads on install
and/or
>first boot for Linux.  User tastes vary too widly for that.  Linux does
however
>make it *very* easy to load each user's default GUI.  Once configured
startx
>looks at certain profile files to determine which GUI to load, and what
>settings to use for it.
>
>Also, building the GUI into the kernel is not as simple as it sounds.
Compound
>that with the fact that Linux runs on many hardware platforms.  Even though
the
>same C++ source code compiles and runs on all of them there are differences
in
>the compiler settings for each platform.
>
>How do you account for the myriad levels of video capability from one
machine
>to the next?  Xconfigurator accounts for at least a dozen video clock
chips,
>hundreds of video boards, and unlimited flexibility in configuring all of
the
>video I/O properties.  Not all hardware can be probed successfully to
determine
>its optimum settings.  Microsoft accomplishes this with bloated code that
takes
>up much more drive space and a much larger memory footprint than would be
>needed if these things were separate.
>
>Given a known, standard hardware set an effective Linux administrator can
leave
>out all of the unneeded support from the start.  Even an average Linux user
is
>capable of removing files which are unrelated to any hardware in their
system
>or any software running on it.  While some of this is possible under Winxx
it
>is risky with all of the interdependancies built into the system.
>
>I enjoy the fact that I have a choice of several GUIs for Linux.  Some
times I
>just want something different.  Nevermind the fact that I'll probably never
>tweak any of the open source code.  I have the options available to chose
>between several GUIs, command shells, text and graphic editors, web
servers,
>...  the list goes on.
>
>PnP is nice but there's no substitute to being able to pick apart the
system
>(even on the most superficial level) when things go wrong.
>
>Island Computer wrote:
>
>> When will there be a truly GUI based version of Linux
>>
>> I was at a Birthday party over the weekend - a bunch of University Users
>> that swear by Microsoft were arguing that maybe if Linux was as easy to
use
>> and install as NT, then they would perhaps try it out
>>
>> I can't believe that something like Motif hasn't been adapted, or
adopted,
>> to be integrated in Linux
>>
>> Comments ????
>>
>> PS: I want to print these out and send them to the Local Armstrong State
>> here in Savannah so keep it clean
>>
>> David
>>
>> --
>> Island Computer
>> PO Box 86
>> 406b/c First Street
>> Tybee Island, GA 31328
>> USA
>>
>> Voice  912 786 8555
>> Fax     912 786 0999
>> sales@islandco.com
>> www.islandco.com
>
>--
>D. Keith Higgs,                     Collection Maintenance Supervisor
>Kelvin Smith Library, 11055 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio  44106-7151
>mailto:dkh2@po.cwru.edu      Phone:216-368-0559      FAX:216-368-3669
>Official: http://www.cwru.edu/UL/pershomepages/K_Higgs.html
>Personal: http://129.22.137.40/Index.htm                 ICQ#28181802
>
>Have you rebooted Windows today?    Linux, it's where you want to go!
>
>