Jan Elders wrote:
On Thursday 06 January 2005 01:29, peter wrote: //cut
however if i buy a product which states that what i want can be done with an installation just out of the box and afterwards it cannot be done because the documentation is inadequate because the sales department says it is supported i feel a little bit disappointed
For two years I am now installing various SuSE distributions (started with 7.3, now running 9.2) and unfortunately I have to agree 100% with Peter's statement. It takes a lot of effort, time, and perseverance to get the system that you want/need. This differs indeed a lot from the promises on the box. SuSE's marketing hype is not covered by the technical contents. Although I hate to admit, I would not advise Linux to people who just want to use their computer as a useful tool without any hassle. One does need a certain amount of W$$-dislike, willingness to tackle challenges and have a fair knowledge of computer / operating system technology to get it all done well. Many people don't have this. I'm afraid this is one of the reasons Linux will not be able to become any threat to W$$. :-( Nevertheless I'm still personally a Linux fan ! ---- Jan Elders the Netherlands http://www.xs4all.nl/~jrme/ "Home of the Network Acronyms"
On the other side, I'd not recommend Windows to anyone, it's been a bane to me when I have to constantly help people to sort out Windows problems. I've installed 9.1 on my daughter's PC just after I installed 9.1 here and I've only been asked a few questions, once when the printer didn't come up enabled and I fixed that by setting up konqueror so she has only to login to webmin and enable it and the other when she couldn't find out how to delete some word files, again I showed her how to use konqueror to do that. Apart from using Windows at work she has no computer knowledge, but she can surf the web, do her spreadsheets and word documents for her needs, the younger daughter has got to grips with the games and I have a quiet life compared to when she used Windows on the same PC. My contention is that the more supposedly technical some people are Windows-wise, the more trouble they'll experience with Linux or any Unix, simply because of the baggage they bring with them and the tinkering around they'd steer well clear of with Windows. We've not had problems with any Linux we've installed when people have suffered the lockups and loss of work that made them look at an alternative. One colleague asked to borrow my SuSE 8.2 CD's, a colleague with little Unix knowledge, just a Solaris Admin 1 class a few years earlier. One day I got a call expressing thanks, he'd installed it on his wife's PC and she was delighted that she could get on with her business, photographic work without the crashes and loss of work she suffered with Windows, verbatim, "My wife thinks it's great", I haven't had a single call from him since regarding Linux. Another colleague asked me to install SuSE 8.0 on his laptop, when I got as far as setting up the partitioning, I got a call to attend to something elsewhere in the office, when I got back, he had it up and running, he's still using 8.0 without problems. Most people never have to install Windows themselves, they call on people like you and me. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce .... Hamradio G3VBV and Keen Flyer =====ALMOST ALL LINUX USED HERE, Solaris 10 SPARC is just for play=====