Slashdot Mirror
Lycoris - Linux for the Masses?
Dejected @Work writes "MSNBC.com, a definitely sketchy source of Linux information, just came out with an article "Linux for the Masses" about the ease of installing Lycoris(formerly Redmond Linux) on the desktop. The author even concluded you can 'fall in love with an ever-easier-to-use operating system.' It sounds like great news but am I missing something?" Several favorable reviews of this distro recently. It looks like all you have to do to get the reviewers on your side is to let them play solitaire during the install. :) Update: 04/13 14:53 GMT by T : Eric Krout also suggests the two-part review (part one and part two) over on monolinux.
I like the idea of linux for the masses, and I am all for the teaching of others to use linux- but that being said; there are so many people that don't even understand Windows 98 (let alone 2000) that I would be afraid of them using linux because they would be constantly coming to me. The people that can't find their 'run' command in windows- you know who I mean.
There are still some complexities in linux that most people will have a hard time with, such as installation and configuration of programs. Its getting better. RPM really helps out alot of people (I like it alot), but not everything uses RPM. I am having a terrible time getting Quake working on a Redhat 7.2 distro here right now (as well as problems with DVD decoding and Divx).
Linux for the masses is great, but lets not let the masses over-simplify it or take it to the lowest commom demononator. And let's not bloat it either (i know redhat is a hog, but it works pretty well)
Tibbon
Make the users feel comfortable by showing them something they allready know. Then they can feel ok about the rest.
A larger user base could end up reflecting badly on linux in that hoards of less-competent users could set up servers with such wild security idiocies as having user names and passwords the same - then blaming the o/s when they get rooted.
Since Corel left there has been a void, that even Mandrake doesn't fill. Lycoris Desktop may just fill that void. Lycoris has a very easy install, easier than Mandrake. The best part is the well thought out desktop. And like Corel, instead of the 50 text editors you usually get,you a slimed down selection. There is only one mp3 player, one browser etc. IMHO they have eliminated the confusion most users suffer when they first use linux. They have set up an environment where you just sit down and get your work done. You want to type a letter, simple use Kword. There is none of this "do I use kword,abiword,openoffice,etc" confusion.
While many linux experts will see this as a negative, you have to recognize that KISS is what no other linux distro has mastered since Corel left. I for one welcome this change. Pick the "best" desktop apps, and package them on a easy to use desktop. In this case I think the concept of less choice has worked.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
What are you talking about? Do you have any idea what Lycoris is? It is XFree86 + KDE + some well-chosen open source apps. What "kernel mods" and "hooks" and "patches" and "API"s are you talking about, specifically? If you're referring to the kernel pre-emption patches, those have already been merged into the 2.5.x tree, and are widely seen as a good thing for Linux.
main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
The really terrible thing is the kernel mods that are necessary to necessary to put the hooks in for their point-n-drool API. I know Linus has the guts to tell them no, but unfortunately all the major distros have started including those patches.
That's what the distrbutions are there for. Linus produces what he thinks should be produced, and as the baseline kernel distribution it's inherently going to be somewhat conservative. Distributions then modify this to suit what their customers want, regardless of whether it's something that Linus would want in the kernel or not (see supermount, for instance - users want the convenience of being able to use removable media without messing about mounting and unmounting it. It's an ugly patch and Linus is never going to include it in his kernel. Distributions add the patch. Everyone's happy)
I guess that's the downside of Open Source. You can't make everyone learn the CLI like they should.
There should be no requirement to use the CLI. Many users just want to be able to turn on the computer, send an email and turn it off again. In what way does forcing them to use a CLI improve their life?
I installed Lycoris on an extra machine I had without a problem... until it turned out it didn't have drivers for my sound card. (Not a rare one either- ECS K7S5A motherboard onboard sound) Now what? Needs a kernel recompile which I don't have time to learn how to do and which most users wouldn't be able to learn even if they tried. If this were windows, however, I'd be able to just download the driver and point-and-click install it. As far as I know, Linux doesn't have anything like that. Until it does, it will be out of reach of the massess.
You can't make everyone learn the CLI like they should. *sigh*
This sentiment is the exact reason why Linux isn't more widely used as a desktop operating system. Linux at present is a geek toy and a server OS. It will never be more until/unless Linux developers start re-evaluating the validity of the quoted statement above.
You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
Desktops like KDE and to (and to a lesser extent, GNOME) copy Windows so shamelessly that they bring expectations, especially from novice users. The wild cut and paste in UNIX is enough to frustrate most novice users. The ripped off UI minus the "normal" (read: Windowsesque) behavior is enough to make most novices believe that Linux is nothing better than a second-rate windows. I've seen this first hand: my neighbor installs RedHat/KDE and it looks like Windows, and what does he do when the first misbehaving X app takes over half his screen (without revealing the "close" widget)? He realizes that he's in over his head, and goes back to Windows.
It's a terrible idea to out-Windows windows. If they don't carve out their own UI, Linux will always be playing catch-up on the desktop.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
Typical linux elitism
"You have to learn the commandline and thousands of commands"
Desktop User "I just want to get the web, play some games and burn some CDS"
"But the commandline gives you power to write scripts and manipulate programs in a more concise way!"
Desktop User "But I'm not a programmer, I just want to get on the web and have fun!!!!"
"Its more fun to play with commands and look like an elite linux haxor!!"
Desktop User "I just want a Desktop thats easy to use, linux sucks I'm going to try OSX"
If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Can this be an attempt to prove that linux is effective competition to windows to placate the judge ? seems weird that it's on an MS affiliated site.
..but it had to be said.
Why does "easy to use" seem to translate, almost precisely "looks exactly like windows"?
OS X, while not flawless, is living proof that the evolution of computer interaction is not over, can people PLEASE stop acting like the M$ desktop is the only way to make an interface?
So (the alleged) PhysicsGenius sez:
"...point-n-drool API." & "I guess that's the downside of Open Source. You can't make everyone learn the CLI like they should. *sigh*"
Proof, yet again, that we urgently need a NEW moderation label added to "flamebait", "troll", "offtopic", etc.
That label would be: "Linux Bigot"
Guaranteed! This comment 100% Anthrax free!
You gotta like this. An article in a mainstream e-rag gushing about how easy it is to install Linux.
And it's got everything an average user could want in terms of software, including browser, email, IM, photo editor, video and mp3 players, games, even an office suite -- something that MS hasn't even got around to incorporating into the OS! It even includes a KNapster file sharing client. Bet you don't get anything like that with XP. It will even delete your old copy of Windows for you. (How convenient.)
On top of that all, you can download it for free, or pay less than $50 for a CD and support. Or you can buy a machine with it pre-installed for less than $500.
This should perk up the interest of Joe Average computer user.
Ironically, this article is on a website co-owned by MS.
Seriously though, I have been noticing lately that there has been a general growing awareness of Linux among the "masses". Case in point: a friend of mine just got her first home computer last week. It has WindowsXP, but she isn't particularly pleased with it. She told me she would have liked to have gotten a Linux computer but she needed Windows in order to be compatible with software she used at work.
Trickster Coyote
Illusions are real. Reality is an illusion.
Ideology is for ideots.
Lycoris seems to be just what the doctor ordered: a chance to experience the power of Linux without having to turn into a system administrator just for the privilege. Let's face it folks: 98% of the computer-using population could care less what runs under the bonnet. They don't want to have to twiddle obscure radio-button options, nor choose amongst 50 different window managers and 200 file managers. They simply want to get work done. Whilst we geeks may bemoan the lack of options and curse Lycoris because we can't eke 2% greater speed out of it, most people simply DON'T CARE about the technical minutiae. They'd be glad to be relieved of Microsoft's increasingly more onerous licencing restrictions and higher prices. And as always, if you don't like the Lycoris distro, don't run it! Run SuSE, or Debian, or Mandrake, or ....
'He who has to break a thing to find out what it is, has left the path of wisdom.' -- Gandalf to Saruman
I tried Gentoo Linux after reading about it here on /., and I must say that it's not my desktop system. Why? Ease of installation - not just of the OS, but of the software too. It might take 4 - 6 clicks to install something in Windows, but in Gentoo it takes 1 line: "emerge vim". Or "emerge xfce", which also installs *everything* necessary for the XFCE desktop, including X Windows if you haven't yet.
...etc". Probably the best part is that it automatically downloads the files you need - you don't have to go searching for them online. And if you're not sure of the package name? 'emerge search "^kde"' lists all the packages starting with "kde".
After getting the basics installed, all I had to do to install everything I wanted was basically, "emerge xfce eterm mozilla gaim openssh
It's really fantastic. In addition, they have tools to automatically update the RC scripts, so you don't have to fool around there. It's flexible enough for someone who knows their way around, e.g. me, and simple enough for a next-to-newbie to use. If you tacked on something like drakconf to this, I'd recommend it to all my friends.
Jake
Dating: while( 1 ){ call_girl(); get_rejected(); drink_40(); } return 0;