Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 18:06:19 -0800 (PST) From: Haikal Saadh <wyldephyre2@yahoo.com> To: Johnson David <DavidJohnson@Siemens.com>, freebsd-advocacy <freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG> Subject: Re: Is FreeBSD Ready for the Desktop? Message-ID: <20030204020619.8031.qmail@web11801.mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <200302031314.41731.DavidJohnson@Siemens.com>
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Just thought I'd get a word in on this.
Now, I have been able to to convince a few, techincally competent
friends to try freebsd, with a variety of methods, from logical
debate to rating and raving to downright sabotage ('Hey you want to
install linux, here, try this *slips freebsd disc into tray*.
Although this only tends to work with *nix n00bs :) ), There was one
thing that made me reluctant to sneakily put FreeBSD on the machine
of a not really computer-knowledgeable person: The packages that came
with 5.0.
For a desktop machine to be easily useable, it needs software. The
5.0 iso was quite lacking in this department. No openoffice for one.
I know that there are good reasons for packages not going on disc 1,
but most users do not have the resources (time, bandwidth, diskspace)
to install incredibly useful software like this. It would also give
the first impressions of being 'useless' and 'too much hassle' if a
usable desktop could not be installed within a reasonable about of
time.
I have wanted to roll out my own release for a while, with my own
package selection so I can give to friends and minions, but not
having a freebsd source repository is a hindrance. (Should not be
problem once the DVD comes out)
But on the plus side Gnome2 with X was a breeze to get up and
running. Just doing an 'X -configure' seemed to generate a config
file that only needed to have the DefaultDepth set to 16 rather than
the default 8.
So in summary, I like to say: The OS is capable of making a good
desktop, but the minute it starts to ship with good packages, we're
talking.
--- Johnson David <DavidJohnson@Siemens.com> wrote:
> There's a guest column by Samba team leader John Terpstra on
> DesktopLinux.com.
> It talks about what is needed by Linux to win in the corporate
> environment.
>
> <http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3610565657.html>;
>
> I checked it out to see what FreeBSD needed to do to win over the
> same
> consumers. Surprisingly enough, FreeBSD is already there.
> Ironically, reading
> through John's list, it seems that those Linux distros that claim
> to be the
> most "desktop ready" are those furthest from achieving that goal.
>
> This article is a great argument in favor of FreeBSD. It's not
> about pretty
> installers and flashy desktops, it's about choice, stability,
> security, and
> making the user's life easier.
>
> David Johnson
>
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