[ale] Kind words for Windows? - was The latest from Gigabyte

[Jerald Sheets]

> Not bashing for real.


But Randy...

All your points are valid.  For a geek that knows what they're doing.  

For the rank-and-file computer user, "call Vendor X" is not the answer.


When Grandma (tm) can go to $store and pick up $hardware and load $linux and have all possilble $desired_hardware and $desired_software_functionality work out of the box, then Linux is mainstream, and not before.  (and I'm a linux admin by trade!  It's how I eat)

You and I both know that all these things are possible in varying levels of effort, but we are the exception.  We actually will take the time to hack on a problem unto 2AM to make it work.  Joe sixpack visiting WalMart for a "newfangled computer thingie" absolutely will not.  I think that's the actual argument.  They will bring it back and ask for windows because it does indeed just work out of the box for what is important to them.  Not what is important to freedom or what is important to openness.

In this day and age, the use of a computer to the non-technical is like the use of a phone... or a toaster, for that matter.  They want "put it on the desk and it works" functionality, and Linux just hasn't reached that place on the desktop yet.


On that topic.  

I've always thought that with all the effort we've seen out there toward getting Linux more mainstream from the community, that a project such as a Linux Hardware lab hasn't cropped up somewhere.  (maybe it has?  I haven't seen one)

A lab whose sole purpose is to get new hardware, document the compatability with Linux, and offer basic configuration elements back to vendors to help them streamline their Linux compatibility.  *or*, when the vendor is not forthcoming with help on the driver front for various internal reasons, delivering documentation to the community on a per-distro basis for getting these various hardwares working in Linux.

Is there such a project?

The Linux Documentation project appears to have stalled of late.  I don't know if the majority of covered topics are just so mature there isn't any documentation changes to archive/catalog, or if everything is now being handled in local wikis to the individual projects, but TLDP appears stalled.  

I know that when I was coming up as a new Linux user, TLDP was paramount for me in learning Linux, how it works, and what to do with it going forward.


Thoughts?

#!/jerald
Linux User #183003
Ubuntu User #32648
Public GPG Key:  http://questy.org/js.asc

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