Gnome is a problem for OEMs

[Daniel Carrera <daniel carrera zmsl com>]

Hello,

I work for an OEM that eagerly wants to sell Linux computers.

I've spent all afternoon trying to figure out how I, as an OEM, can 
configure Gnome before giving it to a user. I just want to change some 
icons on the panel and maybe a menu entry.

After exhaustive search, I can only conclude that there is no way to do 
this. You are stuck with what the Gnome developers think everyone in the 
world needs. You can't even add a new icon to the default panel. Every 
user must learn how to locate software on their own and add icons on 
their own, and if they don't like it, they can go use Windows.

I have serious doubts about Linux being "ready for the desktop". I work 
for a very pro-FOSS OEM. We contribute heavily to open source projects. 
We are *trying* our darn best to give Linux desktops to our customers 
and we do have customers interested in trying them. Everything is in 
place, but Gnome just doesn't give us any way to offer even the tiniest 
bit of configuration. Not even an "OpenOffice icon" on the panel. So 
we'll have to keep selling Windows computers instead.

The problem is not that Microsoft has a deal with us to block Linux, 
they don't. It's not that we don't know Linux, I've been using 
exclusively for 8 years. The first computer I owned ran Slackware Linux. 
I know infinitely more about Linux than Windows. The problem is not that 
there is no support, *we'll* support it. the problem is not lack of 
demand. We have demand. The problem is that Gnome just doesn't give us 
any way to make any adaptations, no matter how small. The problem is 
that the damm thing just wasn't designed with an OEM in mind.

Daniel.
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--
     /\/`) http://opendocumentfellowship.org
    /\/_/
   /\/_/   A life? Sounds great!
   \/_/    Do you know where I could download one?
   /