Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 00:01:55 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr> Cc: Mark Stapper <stark@mapper.nl>, Bernt Hansson <bernt@bah.homeip.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org, Al Plant <noc@hdk5.net> Subject: Re: FreeBSD for the common man(or woman) Message-ID: <20090807000155.6423c928.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <4A7B337A.5030009@otenet.gr> References: <4A76FB32.9050601@videotron.ca> <20090803215319.8fad2441.freebsd@edvax.de> <4A798DF2.3020305@videotron.ca> <200908051651.53302.j.mckeown@ru.ac.za> <20090805203337.c6f74172.freebsd@edvax.de> <h5crnd$f9m$1@ger.gmane.org> <4A7A89B3.6010206@mapper.nl> <4A7A8CDB.20004@infracaninophile.co.uk> <4A7B16F2.7080304@bah.homeip.net> <4A7B2FA3.5020603@hdk5.net> <4A7B337A.5030009@otenet.gr>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 22:48:10 +0300, Manolis Kiagias <sonicy@otenet.gr> wrote: > I should however note that although this work takes out most of the > compiling steps (and I plan to expand the range of pre-built packages > soon), it is still not "a common man's OS", as all the configuration > steps are manual. A truck is not a common man's car. :-) > I am also developing some shell scripts that will > automate a considerable part of post-setup configuration, but these will > need to be tweaked accordingly. I think nearly every admin among us has his own nice collection of such "lazy man's scripts". :-) > There are more than a few things that prevent FreeBSD from becoming > friendly to a non-expert, non-willing-to-study-docs user. This is correct, and related to the nature of FreeBSD, which is a multi-purpose OS. If it would be a single user single PC single task at once OS, maybe. But it can serve as a fine OS on servers, on desktops and on "mixed forms", so there are many selections the person who wants to use it has to make - BY HIMSELF, because the OS doesn't know what you want to do with it. You're supposed to know it, and how to communicate these facts to the OS. As you correctly pointed out, this involves some learning, as well as mastering basic things like understanding the (english) language. > PC-BSD deals > with many of them (preinstalled NVidia, flash support, PBI system) and > it gets better all the time. That is very true. Only some media codecs can be considered a bit problematic, as well as how it deals with common tasks involved with USB sticks n stuff - like plugging out mounted file systems. :-) > Although if the point is getting a simple > user to move away from Windows, most any desktop oriented linux distro > will probably do the job. The "strength" of MICROS~1 software is its aggressive marketing, not its quality. It's so commonly used because users don't know that alternatives do exist, and this is furthermore reasoned in the education system that tells them this "unchangable fact". This way, a "belief" has grown that has nothing to do with real life. > Such a user won't need to have all the choices > and absolute control that FreeBSD provides to all of us. Yes. Suitable defaults and a wisely chosen set of preinstalled software is a way to achieve this. Another way is that people want to buy shiny boxes in a store - and pay for it. This seems to be especially the case for people who regularly use pirated copies of "Windows" and illegally installed expensive software "a friend" gave them because they "need" it. :-) -- Polytropon >From Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20090807000155.6423c928.freebsd>