Re: New user ...opinion.

[Ed Cogburn <ecogburn greene xtn net>]

Cory Watson wrote:
> 
> Out of curiosity, have any of you ever compared installing Gnome to
> installing Windows for the first time?  The
> fdisk/format/installation/driver retrieval/mutliple reboot/program
> installation that you go through to get everything to your liking?  If I
> sat my mother down at my computer with a RedHat CD, and the Gnome RPMs, and
> a boot disk and a 98 CD, she wouldnt have a snowballs chance in hell of
> getting either one running.
> 
> The first time I tried to install Gnome I used RPMs, and that is what
> completely turned me off to RPMs...  It simple didnt work.  No fault of the
> programmers or RPM creators.  The nature of Linux simply makes it difficult
> to take something like Gnome and make a pretty little installer that works
> every time for every person.  If you are running a fairly stock system, or
> one that is current and setup fairly correctly, Gnome tends to work.


	Sounds like Debian may have a better situation going for them. 
Installing Gnome on a Debian machine went without a hitch for me. 
The Gnome .debs pulled in all their dependencies and installed
them all at once, more or less in the right order.  Considering
the nested levels of dependencies, it was impressive. 
Unfortunately, a problem showed up soon after the installation.  I
don't know if it was a problem with Gnome or with the building of
the Gnome .debs.  I suspect an 'easy' way to install Gnome
(regardless of Linux flavor) is still quite a ways away.
	Frankly, I think its too soon to be worrying about an easy
install method for Gnome.  There is still a lot left to do.  First
stabilize Gnome, then get the first wave of Gnome apps (plus
Gnome-aware WMs) out so people can see for themselves the value of
Gnome.  For right now, let the RPM and DEB Gnome maintainers worry
about the install.


-- 
Ed C.