On Sun, 2008-01-20 at 18:16 -0500, Doug McGarrett wrote:
From my own point of view, the lack of support for peripherals is one of the biggest problems for Linux. Yes, I know that the source codes are not available, and I'm not a real programmer myself, but some of this stuff could be reverse-engineered, rather than every six months a new version of the OS, full of bugs. Fix some version of Linux, then concentrate on getting things to work with it. When you can plug in almost any name-brand printer, almost any USB camera, drive, memory card, etc., then concentrate on getting unique Windows programs to work flawlessly by emulation--I think of AutoCad, GW Basic, Borland Pascal, Corel Draw, and so on (maybe some do already, but it's easier to just go to Windows to run them)--then I think Linux has a much better chance to catch on. While Linux seems to be pointed at the business world, which has, in general, a rather narrow batch of program types--word processing, spread sheets, and slide illustrations, and can pretty much do that, it needs to become more friendly to the home user, who would certainly prefer not to have to pay off M/S every year or so, as is becoming obviously their way of life. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."--Ann Landers. And, of course, games. I'm not a gamer. I play solitaire sometimes, but that's about it. But games would get a _big_ play (no pun intended) if there were a lot for Linux.
One problem I see: Linux is sorta free--if you don't want a lot of the good stuff*--but to get the freebie, you have to have a computer running an OS. It seems to be getting more expensive and complicated to get an OS on disk, so the idea of getting a version that does everything on an intallable disk set, with a manual, and is as bug-free as possible for a reasonable price, that I can buy, preferably at Borders, that will last for years, is something I would really appreciate.
*SuSE/Novell has already cut out a lot of the good stuff that used to come with the OS. Free or paid. For SHAME! (It would seem to me that an entrepenour who sold the "good stuff" on a disk compatible with SuSE could make a buck at it. Except that the damned dependencies seem to change with every version.)
--doug
That's why I think if Novell put openSUSE 11.0 as a boxed edition (which you can buy 10.3 as, but it's a pain, I did and I had to wait 27 days after the public release for it to arrive) and sold it at stores it would sell. BUt there would need to be two things: 1. Incentive. Right now aside from supporting Novell and showing them home Linux can be a business model, and telephone support from SUSE, there is NO incentive to buy openSUSE. I'm NOT saying take software out of the free edition and make people pay for it, instead put in things like codecs from Fluendo, or DVD playback codecs/licenses, things like that that make the openSUSE experience much easier and better. These are things that cost money, but since people are paying for openSUSE, that should even it out. 2. Sell it where it would sell. OK, this is going to sound weird, but instead of selling it at Best Buy or CompUSA (here in the US, other equivalent computer stores across the world ;-)), try getting it in places that there are these young adult computer users, like bookstores or coffee shops (to use US brands again, think about Novell inking a deal to sell openSUSE at Barnes & Nobles?) Why? Because think about the stores' huge computer section. Those people could be looking for an alternative to Vista, instead of a book telling them how to cope. Just my $59.99 USD (that ought to be worth about what $0.02 was a while back, huh?) -- Kevin "Yo" Dupuy | Public Email: <kevin@kevinsword.com> Happy New Year from Yo.media! -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org