Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 18:35:40 +0200 From: Roman Neuhauser <neuhauser@bellavista.cz> To: Peter Christie <christie@idsi.net> Cc: grog@lemis.com, FreeBSD-Questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: What do we need in a FreeBSD desktop? (was: Peter heads back to M$FT WinBloze [support groups]) Message-ID: <20020729163540.GL73294@freepuppy.bellavista.cz> In-Reply-To: <Infinity Data Systems WebMail-1.0.1-10279560953d455d7f14579@mail.idsi.net> References: <20020729102059.GA73294@freepuppy.bellavista.cz> <Infinity Data Systems WebMail-1.0.1-10279560953d455d7f14579@mail.idsi.net>
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> Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 11:21:35 EDT
> From: Peter Christie <christie@idsi.net>
> Subject: Re: What do we need in a FreeBSD desktop? (was: Peter heads back to M$FT WinBloze [support groups])
> To: grog@lemis.com
> Cc: FreeBSD-Questions@freebsd.org
Hi Peter,
please, keep the length of lines you emit below 73 chars, please.
Also, it would be very considerate of the freebsd mail servers if
you could snip irrelevant parts of the mail you reply to.
> As an aspiring hacker, I find the challenge of learing FreeBSD very
> rewarding in and of itself, but would I put it on my 'home' computer
> for my wife and kids to use? not as it is now . . . it's hard enough
> keeping them up and runnning with windoze, and the kids are into games
> mostly, and FreeBSD is not a good gaming platform. I could probably
> get the wife converted, as she mostly uses the net for web browsing
> and e-mail.
Pardon me, but if it's hard enough for someone to operate windows,
why should freebsd try to be *the* os for them? clearly, and it's
been said too many times, use a tool you can manage.
> But the idea here is to set up a "convert" (be it from M$, Mac, or
> otherwise) with a 'basic' desktop system that can be up and running
> with minimum effort and complications. This would let more people
> 'use' FreeBSD as a desktop, and provide feedback for the developers.
hm, i'm afraid freebsd is not for the faint of heart. if you're
a {windows, mac} convert, you better start learning with a unixlike
os aimed at you: redhat, mandrake, suse. *or* you have to get
ready to rtfm, rtfm, rtfm.
which is what i did. it's not a coincidence i oppose the idea of
converting freebsd to another dualbooter's toy. the nature of
freebsd has been very attractive to me, and i'm really glad this os
is what it is.
after all, choice is a Good Thing(TM). if freebsd turns into Just
Another Linux Distro, why would anyone (read: i) want to use it?
> FreeBSD will never be a great desktop OS if you don't build a huge
> user-base, which will then get you support from manufacturers for
> drivers and such, as well as the 'other' software companies for
> user-land apps / games.
i don't think this holds water, strictly speaking. freebsd already
*is* a great desktop os: what is a "great desktop os" lies in the
eye of the beholder. i've been using freebsd exclusively
since last september. *for me*, it is the best desktop os i've ever
used. it supports all the hardware and software i use, with just the
right "ease of use".
i put the term "ease of use" in quotes, because it's actually
something that is in the eye of the beholder, again.
> FreeBSD wouldn't change as far as the 'power-user' is concerned, but
> would be simple to install and use for the average, new to *nix,
> 'desktop-user'.
no. the existence of yast2 doesn't make use of vi any easier on
suse linux. i'm glad freebsd has sysinstall, not yast2.
/stand/sysinstall is really easy to use without mouse.
summary of my POV:
quite a few linux distros are combining the "ease of use of windows"
(read: you *must* use those pesky point'n'click interfaces for
everything because the underlying config is so mangled it's no
longer editable by hand) with the "ease of use of unix" (read: it's
cryptic)
please, don't turn freebsd into another linux distro. there's enough
of them.
--
FreeBSD 4.6-STABLE
6:08PM up 13 days, 4:27, 9 users, load averages: 0.28, 0.13, 0.08
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