"user friendliest" Linux distro

[Lloyd Budd]

On 18-Mar-04, at 0:32, aacton-B71PBEe7S7Y at public.gmane.org wrote:

>> The problems with Mandrake are:
>> * finding online repositories (urpmi) for Mandrake
>> -- http://urpmi.org/easyurpmi/index.php really is not that nice
>
> Umm, is there a problem with the giant list on the Mandrake homepage?
Exactly my point ;-)  "User friendliest" point asserted.
There is no good reason for someone  to have to manual select mirrors.
Further, I am certain based on my own experience that finding
"good mirrors" for the non-core package groups is hit and miss.

>> * non-"members" do not have access to "core" computing
>> technologies such as Macro. Flash plugin for browser
>
> You most certainly do "have access" to them.  Flash, Java, Acrobat, 
> and Real
> Player are all available from their respective companies websites for 
> free.
"user friendliest" point asserted.  No one should have to hunt for 
functionality,
nor have to manage it independently.  Further, these parties are 
unlikely to
have tested Mandrake versions available immediately with the release of
a new version of Mandrake.

> The download edition of Mandrake Linux consists of free software only. 
>  This is
> done for reasons of accountability and ethics.  If all distros were 
> this way,
> free implementations of flash/java/pdf/real (like kaffe, libswf) would 
> be way
> ahead of where they are now, out of necessity.
It can be done for whatever reason you want, but the implication is a 
less user
friendly distro.

> The club is not a product.  It's a way to donate money to MandrakeSoft 
> to say
> "thanks for the distro".  There are a few perks to being a member, 
> like some
> non-free software, but that's not its purpose.
Only an apple is an apple.  If I mean to have a way to donate, then I 
do not
have a fixed priced membership system.
I think you are being ideological here.  There is no question that the 
club
is part of the plan to stem the bleeding.
With distributions other than Mandrake, I do not think you have to pay 
to alpha
test.

> BTW, major bug hunters, translators, and volunteers get a free club 
> membership.
All SUSE users get a free membership ;-)  Though that is an interesting
consideration for advanced users -- I do not know how receptive SUSE is
to independent contributors.  I see this as too far aside to effect
"user friendlyness"


>> * Mandrake loss / losing / frustrating some of the best independent
>>   pkg makers .  For example, Chipster and Texstar.
>
> They were all free to join the development team, if not invited!  I 
> assume they
> don't want to play by the rules (read: follow standards).
> http://qa.mandrakesoft.com/wiki
I prefer not to assume.  This point of mine was listed late as it is
minor -- maybe I should not have mentioned it

Cheers,
Lloyd

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