Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 22:24:01 -0500 (EST) From: "Mark Yeck" <y3k@gti.net> To: BobGiesen@earthlink.net Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: A question from a convert from Windows to FreeBSD Message-ID: <2807.198.151.239.42.1011756241.squirrel@y3k.shacknet.nu> In-Reply-To: <007b01c1a381$93765900$328dfea9@pegasus> References: <007b01c1a381$93765900$328dfea9@pegasus>
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Bob wrote: [snip...] > If unsophisticated users could easily install FreeBSD and a free > office > app (such as StarOffice or KDE) that would operate on all those > m$office files in circulation, I think you'd see a lot more home > offices with FreeBSD as the system of choice. After all, how many I honestly think there are some misconceptions about how easy windows is to install. Just because 99% of people use windows doesnt mean that 99% of the people can install it. I doubt if there are many unsophisticated users who could install windows. I know quite a few users with a wide variety of experience. I dont think that any of them would be able to install windows and not able to install freebsd. That's not to say that the freebsd installation procedure couldnt use improvement, but i seriously doubt that microsoft's domination has much to do with ease of installation. > people wouldn't love to get something for free that will do all they > really need of the topheavy m$office apps? > m$ OSes installed seemingly are approaching McD's number of burgers >served. (Okay, a slight exaggeration...) m$ throws a lot of money at >compatibility and ease of installation, knowing that their livelihoods >depend on successful installations being performed by millions of users >who don't know the difference between a bit and a byte. Of course, Actually, every user that I know that doesnt know the difference between bits and bytes has bought their computer with windows installed already or had someone with a clue install it for them. with >their large, installed base, they've also managed to convince hardware > manufacturers that it's in their best interest to provide > winblows-compatible drivers. Having the necessary drivers hit the > street at the same time as the hardware also helps a great deal. > Here, most of us (FreeBSD) users are a little more savvy and > demanding of > other features in our O.S. We don't want to be hand-held to the point > that the OS author makes all of our decisions for us during the > installation (one of my many peaves w/ m$) -- but I think a certain > amount of it could be automated better. Of course, besides being such What parts could be automated better? It's been a little while since I've done a fresh install, but i think you can go through almost all of the installation selecting defaults. Seriously, though, your input as a fresh convert from windows is very useful. If you can let people know specifically what parts of the installation were troublesome, they will improve them in future versions. > a solid, flexible product, FreeBSD's also FREE, which is why I'd never > complain about the difficulty of installation. Everything on which > FreeBSD depends comes to us by the grace of people who are willing to > share their work with the world at no cost. That doesn't usually lead > to the sense of urgency instilled in the m$ mill, so a certain amount > of "do-it-yourself" is to be expected. In terms of installation and > configuration time, FreeBSD is really more costly to set up than my w98 > setup was -- but m$ gets you in the end with the ongoing instability > issues. I've installed several versions of Windows and FreeBSD and found them to be pretty comparable as far as ease of installation. -mark To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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