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Date:      Fri, 18 Aug 2000 10:03:00 -0700
From:      R Joseph Wright <rjoseph@mammalia.org>
To:        James A Wilde <james.wilde@telia.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   Re: BSD Inquiry...
Message-ID:  <20000818100300.A10480@mammalia.org>

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> But the point I was trying to make was that nobody makes 'user'*-friendly
> installation like Microsoft.  Solaris - at least on the free version 7 I
> have - comes closest.  Some Linux distributions - people who know mention
> especially the Corel distribution in this context - are also very good.
> 
> FreeBSD just isn't in the same ballpark.  You have to have a good idea of
> what you are doing to do anything at all.  I'm not trying to start a flame
> war here, just presenting my own point of view.  I estimate that my point of
> view lies well above the 'user'* level - I'm a good NT system
> administrator - but well below the average 'hacker'** level in this
> conference.

It seems to me like "user-friendly" installation gets equated with "pretty
GUI" installation.  I don't think installations get much easier than with
FreeBSD.  I had only played with Linux for a couple months before I
installed FreeBSD without a hitch on the first try.  Sure, I already knew
about partitioning and mount points, etc from having worked with Linux.
The only new thing I had to learn was the BSD slice/partitioning scheme.
But it only takes maybe a couple hours to read through the relevant parts of
the manual to understand these basic concepts.  If you are unable to
understand the chapter on installing FreeBSD, you very well may not be
capable of installing Windows either.  FreeBSD's installer may not have
pretty graphics, but it walks you through the process step by step and is
IMO very user friendly.

However, just because it is user friendly doesn't mean it couldn't improve.
I think one area where it could improve is with the initial menu that pops
up when you first boot into it.  Rather than giving a long list of options
like it does, it could show something like:

		( ) Install FreeBSD
		( ) Read the Instructions on Installation
		( ) Other Options

"Other Options" would then take you into the full menu.  This would ease the
minds of new users I think.  Just an idea. 

Joseph


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