Debian testing install

[Ronnie Gauthier]

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 18:45:49 +0000
ded <my.accountnow at ntlworld.com> wrote:

> <rant mode on>
> 
> I'd like to state in advance, I'm not posting this to cause a flame
> war...I'm just a bit miffed as to the direction my former distribution
> of choice is headed. I always took a bit of pride that Debian was
> traditionally a bit of a difficult install, you really did have to
> know a bit about your computer and linux to get it all working and
> we all could say with a bit of pride "I run Debian". Much the same
> way one could say, "I run Slack".
> 
> Well this afternoon I had a bit of spare time, and I decided with a
> new Debian release on the horizion I would download the testing
> netinstall cd and have a look-see.
> 
> Frans, Joey and the rest of the installer team have done a good
> job...everything was detected and set up correctly. But, when I got
> to the desktop there was this irritating orangish looking icon
> telling me that there were updates? WTF is that all about? I'm used
> to opening a terminal, selecting my repository sources and firing up
> aptitude and going merrily on my way. What's with the hand holding?
> Has everything in linux got to become a click and drool interface?
> Is it beyond new users to say I want a better system, but I know
> going in it's going to be a bit more difficult...there's going to be
> a learning cure and then spend a bit of time reading and learning?
> It really does seem to me that a majority of the distributions (even
> those like Debian, who aren't a for pay, commercial distro) are
> pandering to Windows users. In essence it seems to be to have
> become, "I'd like to use linux...but you've got to make it look like
> windows, walk like windows and smell like windows." There's even a
> new thread on the Fedora list where someone is suggesting
> implementing YasT2 for Fedora <smacks forehead>. Been there, done
> that with Debian. Spare me.
> 
> If linux gets to the point that it's used by a bunch of people who
> can't format a hdd on their own or even figure out how to install a
> tarball, mplayer, codecs, etc....maybe we should start working on
> another project.
> 
> To launch an old argument, but hopefully amongst friends so that
> it's just a discussion, does anyone else feel that linux is being
> dumbed down to an unacceptable level?
> 
> <rant mode off>
> 
> Sorry, had to get it off my chest :)
> 
>

Linux needs to go even further in the direction of your rant. All
those willing to put up with the learning curve are for the most 
part already users. To gain further inroads on windows, you do 
agree that is a good idea, dont you? Linux needs to be able to get 
to the point and click masses. If that means dumbing it down then
I guess so.

Ronnie