Political Blather

[Oren Beck]

On 1/23/07, Phil Thayer <phil.thayer at vitalsite.com> wrote:
>
>

> > I challenge the FOSS world to get any OS  and Applications
> > package that equals win95 for raw usability on old gear.
>
> How about Linux, just for a start?

Ok- When I mentioned usability - it meant to appliance operators.
and it's defined as the majority of GUI actions working even semi logical.
Drag and drop for example and Cut&Paste working between applications.
Yes, windows does not pass the c&p across apps perfectly either .
Yet that one alone embodies the goal- not a "who's better" brag point
rather consider it as a target neither OS fully quite hits 100% on
Why it was mentioned was to describe WHAT  "usability" means
for these comparisons.


>
> > My example is a Pentium 75 thru 233 laptop with under 50 mb ram and
> > under 1gig hd. The  concept of a GUI distro that will have an
> > acceptable user response time and run on laptops such as
> > described has not yet been demonstrated to me.
>
>
> Wow.  I really don't understand this one.  It sounds to me like you have
> things a little backwards.  *nix OS's have traditionally been smaller
> and run much better on lower end hardware then does MS OS's.  This has
> almost always been the case.  Either you are not installing things
> properly or your hardware is having problems because *nix against any MS
> OS will run better on older and less powerful machines.
> _______________________________________________
>
See above comments regarding usability and response time to the user's
perceptions.
As to the "not installing properly" issue- yes the guru level folks can tweak,
recompile, hand select components and every metric of performance can only be
improved by doing so. That however does not cover the box stock units .
The piles of retired laptops that won't even load newer windows let alone our
standards of Knoppix and it's full size siblings. DSL as Brian mentioned does
"work" but is almost painful to use in it's "insert cd,power on  wait
for desktop"
modes. OR "hand user an old laptop with CD in drive, they turn it on
and it just works.
I do NOT doubt that there may be ways of hacking down unused cruft to
gain speed,
but then we re-enter the world of "us" and upper level "us" at that.

I'd like to see perhaps a "damn smaller" concept whacked down to maybe
even only a browser and networking in GUI even lacking audio.  So
turning an otherwise dumpster bait laptop into a functional net
interface. Yes- we won't have eye candy or idiot videos but the
basic web itself before ADD/ADHD audiences demanded all the crap will work.
After all- much of the crap we have been despising in some other
threads won't work
on 95/98 either.

ALL of my comments are based on my self observations and personal
experiences as to
"what I and many others REALLY use a computer for the most clock hours
of any day.
For me- most of the time my mail is web based. It is simply the most
hassle free default.
And most of the daily reading sites are often chosen for a lack of flashies.
SO we have me spending my time on webmail,a few websites,and some
usenet often thru google. All of which shows that a mail client, a
news client etc , audio capacity all cruft?
IS an integrated browser suite like Mozilla embracing or missing the
best way to do this?
Firefox Vz Moz looks more lopsided reading what I just listed as my usages.
Same concept applies to my major music listening- dedicated audio
devices often just plain work where a computer will be so much a PITA
it's often easier to turn the TV to XM480 and
"Let there be music" It's truly amazing to me seeing how far we've
come with "media pc"
functions in FOSS.
That said  to underscore the divergence of THIS thread's past with an
appropriate closer.

"In trying to be all things to all people there lies a chance of
becoming nothing to anyone"