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OEone New Releases and Review
Mike Potter writes "After our initial launch, we received a ton of requests asking for support for RedHat 7.3 and Mandrake 8.2. OEone is happy to announce that HomeBase DESKTOP is now available as a free download for those two platforms. There's a great review of OEone DESKTOP at Linux Orbit."
That OE wants to install DRManagement module
with itself.
No thanks. I do not want to install any DRM crap on my comoputer.
I did NOT agree with their EULA.
It is just a screwed with install of RedHat, minus some important libraries. Takes forever to start the machine, and it is not nearly as configurable of a desktop as KDE or Gnome, or any number of other "smaller" GUI's.
oh man.. look at this bastardization of Tux, the pengiun we all know and love and hate
pic here
The install script
lynx -source http://install.oeone.com/ |sh
is run in a terminal window as root.
Hahahaha.... NO. What bigger motivation is there for some misguided soul to go buck wild and compromise that server? People will be running remote code as root, hoping to get this shiny new software. Er, no thanks. The review doesn't mention it, but there HAS to be a better way to install it than this.
mstyne: real name, no gimmicks
In the last year I've moved both my mother, and my father and his girlfriend to linux. My mother I did first, and I set her up with a window-maker/gnome desktop. She's smart, but also lazy and never bothered to learn her way around the linux file system. She always relied on me for support, and never felt like it was "her" computer. That was important to her and she eventually blew $2000 on an iMac with OS X.
:P
My father and girlfriend don't have the money to burn, and also are more easily befuddled by technology. I set them up with a fresh install of OEOne. What OEOne does well is make you feel like you own your computer. They're so far very happy.
There is a dark side to OEOne desktop, however. Its not really a prodcut, but a PR attemt to sucker geeks like us into using it and giving it mindshare. It has no built in modem control applet / internet wizard. They've written one for their set top box, but pulled it from desktop, basically to keep it from being a useful product.
Remember, OEOne is written for grandma, and grandma doesn't ever want to miss a call because she's on the net. She sure doesn't want to be unable to call out because she forgot to power down her comp. The mailbug has a really good connection manager, basically you never know the mailbug uses the modem because it does all its stuff when it senses you're not using the phone.
The user interface is decent, but a little clunky. Its got a lot of tiny mystery meat icons, scattered in unintuitive locations. They need to pay their graphic designers more or something.
Overall though its not a bad choice. The lack of a window manager is a big win for newbs. Instead there is a task bar and you swap back and forth between tasks. If the task isn't running it starts it up automatically. This is a good idea. I wonder when the condesending bone heads working on windowmaker will figure this out.
If you don't have the $2k for OS X, but you do have access to a geek willing to spend 3 days installing it, I think I'd recommend OEOne desktop. I worry about their committment to open source, blah blah blah. Not offering free security updates is somewhat worrisome too. Oh well.
The fact that it was reviewed by a guy named Gonzo John certainly lends it an air of credibility.
Read the EULA.
It doesn't say that you have to use any DRM it says that third party DRM modules may be used with OEOne and that if you do use such third party DRM modules then you are agreeing that OEOne has nothing to do with it.
In other words "If you want to use something that has DRM and the DRM screws your machine over then take that out on the person who provided you with the DRM not us."
It seems fair enough to say that to me.
Doesn't mean that I'm having anything to do with the software though.
Z.
-- Under/Overrated is meta-moderation, and therefore is Redundant.
You didn't hear this from me, but the Mandrake 9 version is just around the corner.
;-)
But don't tell anyone I told you.
Cheers,
Vic
No. The words are NOT so mild.
"6. DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ("DRMs"). The Software may include third party DRMs as Plug-in components which are subject to their own license agreements. DRMs are designed to manage and enforce intellectual property rights in digital content purchased over the Internet. You may not take any action to circumvent or defeat the security or content usage rules provided or enforced by either the DRM or the Software. DRMs may be able to revoke your ability to use applicable content. OEone is not responsible for the operation of the DRM in any way, including revocation of your content. OEone is not responsible for any communications to or from any third party DRM provider, or for the collection or use of information by third party DRMs. You consent to the communications enabled and/or performed by the DRM, including automatic updating of the DRM without further notice, despite the provisions of section 5(b). You agree to indemnify and hold harmless OEone for any claim relating to your use of a third party DRM."
"
So it claims that it
1) already may contain DRMs
2) I should consent to that DRM operations
3) that DRM modules could update itself.
As I write this I think maybe only one person who has posted actually understands why something like this is not only usefull, but important.
No most geeks do not need something like this. However you have to consider the fact that, 98 percent of your computer users are not geeks. On top of that, a good chunk of those people can hardly use their computer.
Example... My grand parents where set up with a computer last year. They love their computer... but they are VERY timid with it. They are afraid to break things.
Right now they are using windows ME. Actually I think XP might have been a better choice but at the time it was not really an option.
Many of the things on their desktop, they dont know how to use. Not only that, they dont WANT to figure out what these things do. They would rather spend their time trying to remember how you go about accessing stock quotes, or reading email than learning new functionality.
What most people dont understand is the fact that things like window management is intimidateing! Why do I need to worry about what size some window is... how I make it full screen... how to get it back once I clicked some button and made it disapear!
The idea behind OEone's desktop is not actually a new one. However it is quite a good idea. (and urgh... Microsoft is in the process of developing their own version of this... they have been for a while actually.) The user should not need to know which applications do what... let alone know how to MANAGE the applications, Instead the user is presented with documents and tasks. If the user wants to browse a web page... thats all they should have to deal with. The web page should become their interface. If the user wants to make a document, their computer nees to BE a word processor.
Anyways, sorry for being a bit ranty. I did not sleep at all last night and Im quite tired =)
Luke
If you say the name out loud, you are required to shout the word "DESKTOP." It's in the EULA.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
I hate repeating myself on Slashdot, but please check OEone's open source release page:
s
http://www.oeone.com/developers/
Source code is available via anonymous CVS. OEone also has an IRC channel (#penzilla on irc.openprojects.net) and a developers mailing list:
https://mail.oeone.com/mailman/listinfo/developer
Cheers,
Vic
-- What do you need?
-- Gnus. Lots of Gnus.