From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Sep 11 09:32:54 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4A16B16A407 for ; Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:32:54 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@collaborativefusion.com) Received: from mx00.pub.collaborativefusion.com (mx00.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.199]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 67DE243D67 for ; Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:32:43 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from wmoran@collaborativefusion.com) Received: from localhost (monrovll-cuda1-24-53-251-44.pittpa.adelphia.net [24.53.251.44]) (AUTH: LOGIN wmoran, TLS: TLSv1/SSLv3,256bits,AES256-SHA) by wingspan with esmtp; Mon, 11 Sep 2006 05:32:42 -0400 id 00056428.45052D3A.0000E8F6 Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 05:32:40 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: Bob Walker Message-Id: <20060911053240.30d8117d.wmoran@collaborativefusion.com> In-Reply-To: <000001c6d520$292f6700$0c01a8c0@DELL8400> References: <000001c6d520$292f6700$0c01a8c0@DELL8400> Organization: Collaborative Fusion X-Mailer: Sylpheed version 2.2.7 (GTK+ 2.8.20; i386-portbld-freebsd6.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Newbie Experience X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 09:32:54 -0000 Bob Walker wrote: > Hi, > > I have always wanted to better understand Unix, and so I finally made the > decision to switch some of my office PCs over to either a Unix or Linux > system. With office suites like OpenOffice, I felt that I would be able to > transition away from Windows with minimal disruption to my business. So, I > downloaded the .iso images from FreeBSD, Suse, and Fedora. I initially > favored FreeBSD, since it seemed to have the closest lineage to "pure" Unix, > and that was important to me, but after many, many attempts to install both > the OS and Gnome desktop environment, I threw up my hands. I'm confused. What compelled you to torture yourself, _then_ complain about it to a list that's sole purpose in existing is to help prevent you from torturing yourself? If you had posted many questions and got no answers, I could understand throwing up your hands. As it stands, you might want to use those hands to smack yourself for making your life more difficult than it needs to be. If you have problems, ask on the list at the time the problem occurs. Complaining after the fact (as you're doing) accomplishes nothing. While I can't speak for the project "officially", I would wager to say: 1) We know our installation is not as pretty and easy as others, and 2) We don't care. We are a community. We're not Microsoft. We're not interested in driving users away by saying "here's everything you need, don't bother us again." Our limited resources are focused on developing the really important parts of the system. While few would complain if the install process were made easier, nobody has the time to work on it. Become part of the community and ask questions when you have trouble. Find a local user's group. But please, please don't complain about the OS not working right when you use it wrong. The FreeBSD community is an integral part of the OS. Not making use of the FreeBSD community and then complaining that the OS is difficult to use would be like not using a mouse then complaining that MS Windows is hard to use. -- Bill Moran Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote. Benjamin Franklin