🚀 go-pugleaf

In <3vs410$1crj@hopi.gate.net> cirby@news.gate.net (Chad Irby) writes:

>Dan Pop (Dan.Pop@mail.cern.ch) wrote:
>
>: The home Unix user doesn't hire any kind of sysadmin, exactly like the
>: home Mac user.
>
>...which is why there are so few home unix machines.  Aside from a few 
>dedicated hobbyists and future Comp. Sci. majors, unix is a *tiny* 

Only the Linux CD-ROM vendors report sales in the range of 40,000 copies
per month.  This is a _tiny_ fraction, compared to the Windows market,
but not to the MacOS market.  Being free software, a single CD-ROM can
be used for an unlimited number of installations.  You can install Linux
without using a CD-ROM at all, the distributions being available from
hundreds of FTP servers, as well.  And Linux is not the only free Unix for
PC's.

>fraction of the home market.  And until someone comes up with a way for 
>someone to deal with a "home" unix machine without having to worry about 
>all of the obscure details of unix administration, it won't make any 
>inroads in that market, either.

Given the fact that most home Unix machines are running a free version
of Unix, your point is moot.

Anyway, I have yet to see that administrative overhead of a home Unix
machine.  What is the "sysadmin" supposed to do, once the OS is installed?
Create a new account for his brother or son?  What else?
Regular backups are administrative overhead of _any_ operating system,
even MacOS is no exception.

The installation procedure leaves you with completely and correctly
configured Unix system.  How many Joe Mac User's even dare to install a
new version of MacOS on their systems?

I forgot: the user who fears hardware incompatibilities or other kinds
of installation problems can buy a PC with Linux preloaded.  There are
a number of vendors in this business.

Dan
--
Dan Pop
CERN, CN Division
Email: Dan.Pop@mail.cern.ch 
Mail:  CERN - PPE, Bat. 31 R-004, CH-1211 Geneve 23, Switzerland