helix-update

[Bill Guelker <wguelker maverix net>]

Ok, rant-alert.

I've been a gnome user for quite some time, very satisfied, much impressed
with recent progress.  Yesterday I used helix-update for the first time. 
Normally, I would shy away from this and go for the do-it-yourself
approach, but just this once....  

Now my work machine has turned into a windows clone!! gdm crashes
mysteriously after an arbitrary amount of time keeping up a login prompt
(hangs machine).  Gnome itself has crashed completely twice, complete with
blinking screen, beeping speaker, etc, ultimately dumping me back to the
login prompt after thrashing around loudly for a few minutes.  I've gotten
the white hatch X desktop twice now after logging in (ctrl-alt-bkspce
time).  All in all, the machine has become completely unstable and
unpredictable.  Nice job making windows users feel at home with linux,
helix!  Trouble is, I haven't been a windows user for a long time, and had
grown accustomed to the mundane world of stable, predictable computing..

Packages upgraded: sawfish-0.33.1, gnome-core-1.2.4 (don't remember asking
for this one), gnome-applets-1.2.4.  I only asked for sawfish and
gnome-applets, but the updater said it was updating 14 packages... I don't
even know what all of them were, since all except the biggies went buy too
quickly (I was working while updating) and no record left.  

An innocent linux newcomer will be extremely turned off if this happens to
them!  As it is, I can uninstall ALL of gnome and reinstall the working
helix packages I was using before (which I saved - no option to do so with
helix-update).  this behavior is frighteningly like windows update (always
a recipe for a broken machine). 
I'd rather the learning curve remain steep  with working software than use
broken software designed for children.

Ok, I'm done ranting.  I still love gnome.  But sheesh!

bill