Richard Creighton wrote:
http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/opensuse10.3.review.html Mentions of "for the uninitiated" sounds about right. To sidestep any problems with the DVD, I've installed from Factory. Looks like the DVD should have been delayed until it was compared with Factory for stability. I think the reviewer attempted to be fair (he points to the URL to show where he is coming from). Perhaps some pertinent pointers for 11.0. Regards Sid. http://www.mandrake.tips.4.free.fr/opensuse10.3.review.html should be MUST READING for management at Novell and at openSuSE.org. It is eminently fair and for the most part, accurate. I think any inaccuracies could be attributable to unfamiliarity rather than bias. If this reviewer hadn't been what I would call a 'Power-user', and had instead been someone converting from Windows, not only would they
Sid Boyce wrote: probably not have had a successful install, but would have an article that Microsoft would probably have printed in full page ads throughout the world. As it is, it should wake up Senior Management in SuSE.
regards Richard
Richard, You hit the nail on the head. Good job! Just think about how the review would have been different if Novell had taken the time to QA and fix just the issues listed in that article. (pause and think about it) All of the frustration and waste of time experienced and expended by each of us would have been spared and the support headaches for Novell would have been eliminated. I am committed to openSuSE after having come from Mandrake when that distribution imploded and went through its "dark times" (8.0 - 10.1). What caused the mass exodus from Mandrake? The exodus was caused by the corpratizing of what was a fantastic disro through 7.2. Quality developers committed to thorough QA, putting out a reliable product when it was ready. Once Mandrake went public, the developers were stripped of control over the distribution. The business types made business decisions to adhere to an insane release cycle and QA and reliability went down the tubes. It has taken Mandrake several *years* to recover, but they are getting there. A costly few years it took to find the correct balance between the business and software sides of the house. In business, as in virtually every facet of life, history can be a great teacher for all intelligent enough to listen and learn. The problems encountered in 10.3 pale by comparison to the Mandrake debacle, but they indicate a troubling change in direction. When I moved to SuSE at (8.0, 8.2?) the distro was the best on the market - hands down. That, even with the yast ftp install that required booting from a floppy. It worked, it worked every time, and gotchas were a very rare occurrence. arTee's article is extremely well written and a candid, honest and fair account of the 10.3 release. I applaud the time, the dedication and the effort he expended to give back to the OSS community and provide an opportunity for openSuSE to access how the distribution was released and learn from a bit of history. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking openSuSE at all. I still believe it is the best distribution on the planet. But experiencing the exact same install problems described in the article and after spending the past 50 days sorting out lockups and many of the other problems described, it has left me shaking my head at the sheer amount of time required to get 10.3 fleshed out. arTee's point is well made, and I agree. A vast majority of those that aren't already sufficiently Linux literate trying 10.3 as a first Linux try, would have thrown in the towel right after the install glitch and would never have looked back or gotten to experience the elegance of this distro. I know the developers are doing a great job, but I truly wonder if some of the critical decisions are being made by the corporate folks ignoring the better judgment of the developers. The article provides great feedback and a great opportunity to learn. Lest another article with the same candid, honest and fair account is to follow -- after the release of 11.0. -- David C. Rankin, J.D., P.E. Rankin Law Firm, PLLC 510 Ochiltree Street Nacogdoches, Texas 75961 Telephone: (936) 715-9333 Facsimile: (936) 715-9339 www.rankinlawfirm.com -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org