On 16 July 09, Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
You can skip this if you don't want to read more. But it gives what I think is a good example from PC history about how this has bitten other vendors.
I don't accept that this is comparable. Someone 'joe-six-pack' buying a PC more than a decade ago to selecting an alternative Operating System.
We need to be realistic, *zero* non-technical users wake up in the morning and think "I'll try an alternative Operating System today". They do go buy PCs. If you even know what an "Operating System" is you are in a small minority and at least a PC Jockey.
And a few years later, they were in deep trouble, primarily because former repeat customers became non-customers, and led others away with them. Not just because of my experience, but because they began to get a reputation as just another vendor, and one who didn't get it, at that.
I do not accept the correlation of your experience to the failure of Gateway. Gateway failed for an entire assemblage of reasons, a number of which were related to corporate governance. For one, they spent an enormous amount of their capital trying to buy into the enterprise market [they purchased ALR among other companies] an effort with failed catastrophically. Their initial success can also be attributed to [at the time] minimal competition.
Aside from that this entire argument seems centered around the notion "[openSUSE] is a step backfrom where it was," which is the part I just don't see or accept. I think there is a vocal minority of 'minimalists' who don't like the direction of the modern desktop, but they'd dislike other current distributions for the exact same reasons. They wouldn't like OS/X or Windows Vista/7. Some of them see adding modern features as "emulating" those [despised] platforms [which it isn't]. I have no issues with their choices I just disagree that their wishes should hobble the experience and usability for everyone else.
Nice set of blinders you have on there. That kind of thinking is no more help than those you accuse of not contributing. -- Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” -Theodore Roosevelt -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org