[KULUA EVENT] KULUA vs Win2k -- UPDATE (fwd)

[Frank Wiles]

On Fri, 18 Feb 2000, Randy Rathbun wrote:

> Very true Frank. I was perhaps being a bit too simplistic in my examples
> with the Mindstorm and the MP3s and just did not explain myself enough. 
> 
> I guess what I was trying to say is that people want to see more than
> eyecandy. Or even earcandy. I use Linux for a lot of stuff. I use it to
> control the lights in my house. I use it in astronomy to see where the
> stars are, the position of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and am getting
> ready to use it (as soon as I can get it built) for capturing long exposure
> CCD images of nebula and stars. If you can show people that it is not "just
> windows" that can do this, but a free and open OS, and show them that it is
> a real alternative to some $500+ thing that is closed up, well, I think
> that is what people want to see. But, that is because this is where my real
> computer use lies. I am not into massive databases or some of the other
> things that people use Linux for. I am more into the "why a user should
> switch" thing. 
>

  Ok I see your point, and I think it's great your dad has an interest in
Linux ( especially seeing him switch from MS crap ).  But honestly, I
don't feel that Linux ( or any of the BSDs and/or Unix in general ) is
ready for the average user's desktop.  It's close, thanks to things like
Gnome and KDE, but we're still a long way off.  We need better
installation utilities, easier to use package management, better hardware
support, more productivity apps, etc, etc, etc.  And those sorts of things
will come with the help of big business, that was my point. 
 

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  Frank Wiles <frank at wiles.org>
  http://frank.wiles.org
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