From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Mar 4 21:24:05 2012 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65F48106566C for ; Sun, 4 Mar 2012 21:24:05 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from freebsd-questions@m.gmane.org) Received: from plane.gmane.org (plane.gmane.org [80.91.229.3]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1F2058FC13 for ; Sun, 4 Mar 2012 21:24:04 +0000 (UTC) Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1S4IuL-0006IC-VK for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:24:00 +0100 Received: from np-19-75.prenet.pl ([np-19-75.prenet.pl]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:23:57 +0100 Received: from jb.1234abcd by np-19-75.prenet.pl with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 04 Mar 2012 22:23:57 +0100 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org From: jb Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2012 21:23:48 +0000 (UTC) Lines: 37 Message-ID: References: <4F53CB2A.4070901@mac.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: sea.gmane.org User-Agent: Loom/3.14 (http://gmane.org/) X-Loom-IP: 79.139.19.75 (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; FreeBSD i386; rv:9.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/9.0.1) Subject: Re: PC-BSD on top of FreeBSD - does it matter ? 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: Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:24:05 -0000 Chuck Swiger mac.com> writes: > ... > There are lots of people who are looking for turnkey / "no docs needed" > systems, with "give me simplified choices" but "handle obvious errors with a > nice dialog window or fix-it 'wizard'", instead of requiring CLI sysadmin > experience, reading error logs, and running diagnostic commands to fix things. > ... Well, the PC-BSD team set these goals for themselves: "PC-BSD has as its goals to be an easy-to-install-and-use desktop operating system, based on FreeBSD. To accomplish this, it provides a graphical installation to enable even UNIX novices to easily install and get it running." That's also an obligation to test it. PC-BSD is a product, by a private company. The burden of proof is on them. > ... > I suspect that the folks who define usability by such criteria are not using > FreeBSD (or PC-BSD) at all, or they quickly evaluate it and then move on at > the first major showstopper they come across. > ... There were many attractive features implemented. I personally am irritated when I get a software product that breaks on a basic usability test. The argument that something is offered to me for free and so I can not expect it to function here and there does not fly with me. That's a road to nowhere, considering that they do offer it freely. I will test their next public release in more detail. I would love to report back words of praise. jb