Re: progress in operating systems

JeffM <jeffm_@xxxxxxxxx> hath wroth:

ChairmanOfTheBored wrote:
Installing Linux is more than half the fun!

Jeff Liebermann wrote:
If it were easy, it would be no fun. Everyone needs a challenge
to keep them off the streets and out of trouble.

Spoken like a nerd.
When the majority of folks buy something, they want to Just Work.

Yep. I had a former lady friend that was like that. She bought a new
car and drove it for about 10,000 miles without ever changing the oil.
When the engine seized, she couldn't understand why driving an
automobile had to be such a complicated affair. Let's just say that
expectations and understanding vary considerably among the GUM (great
unwashed masses). I have customers with computers that are only a
little better.

I would never pay for it pre-installed.

Lots of folks miss the big picture at this point.
The fact that Linux CAN be had pre-installed
means that ALL the hardware has a Linux device driver.
At that point, you can install the distro of your choice.

Perhaps my circle of aquaintences are strange, but the ones that are
Linux users tend to constantly reinstalling, reconfiguring, and
rebuilding their installations. I know of several that try every new
release and mutation that looks interesting. I don't know what
they're looking for, but apparently they haven't found it.

There are other Dell models listed
that have no operating system pre-installed.

...and according to Mossberg, those might be an equal choice.
The plain-vanilla Ubuntu install that Dell is doing
reflects ZERO EFFORT on their part.
Just shameful. Open sourse takes another cheap shot
from the Windoze establishment.
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/153210&mode=nested&threshold=5#20640119
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/153210&mode=nested&threshold=5#20638599
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/153210&mode=nested&threshold=5#20641267
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/17/153210&mode=nested&threshold=5#20639409

I've been dealing with Dell since the days when they were supplying
some AT&T Unix mutation (forgot the acronym) pre-installed. Also
Apple with A/UX pre-installed, and Compaq with Red Hat pre-installed.
Also SCO Unix on HP and IBM servers pre-installed. I have some
observations:
1. None of them worked perfectly out of the box.
2. The effort saved in not having to do the install was about 30-60
minutes. Everything else was the same.
3. Guaranteed hardware compatibility was a moving target because of
firmware changes on plugin cards and BIOS's. Keeping the drivers in
sync was almost impossible to the point where one vendor (forgot whom)
was shipping a driver CD with *ALL* the drivers out of date or
malfunctional. Support never had a good list of the "latest" driver
versions.
4. Nobody did much testing and relied on customer feedback to
identify problems.
5. Linux support was either spectacularly good or totally useless.
There was also an awful lot of "this would be a good time to learn vi"
type of exercises on the phone in order to fix things.
6. Nobody was delivering up to date installations with the latest
kernel.

Even the NAS (network attached storage) vendors can't get their act
together. Most supply reinstall CD's for their Linux based operating
system, which is fatally out of date, and often doesn't work with
replacement drives that have slightly different firmware.

I believe pre-installed Linux is a great idea if you're doing
production line installs for multiple desktops on identical machines.
However, if each machine is even slightly different, you might as do
the install yourself as all you've saved is the initial 30-60 minutes.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@xxxxxxxxxx
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
.

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