Gnome With The Wind 3?

[MidnightCowboy]

Just tried the Gnome version 3 of Fedora 15 and immediate reaction is, what was that?

I appreciate it's meant to be different but if this is a forward development from Gnome 2, MC must be missing the bigger picture somewhere

Between this, Unity and what KDE is managing to botch up with their network manager, I foresee a bright future for some of the other alternatives, especially Enlightenment.

Still everyone who appears in our house is mightily impressed with Bodhi, and to get a real impression of the work Jeff has put in to it, try the E17 version of PCLinuxOS and appreciate the difference

So far I'm finding Bodhi unbreakable and unshakable.

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

Still everyone who appears in our house is mightily impressed with Bodhi, and to get a real impression of the work Jeff has put in to it, try the E17 version of PCLinuxOS and appreciate the difference

Just to be clear. Are you making a comparison of Enlightenment in Bodhi and PCLinuxOS?

I Liked PCLinuxOs but it wasn't the Enlightenment version. Maybe I will download it and give it a try. I'm going to wait for Jeff to release the next version of Bodhi because I foresee many improvements.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by wdhpr

Just to be clear. Are you making a comparison of Enlightenment in Bodhi and PCLinuxOS?

Yes, just for a comparison I downloaded the Enlightenment version of PCLinuxOS. I would say Bodhi is miles better both out of the box and for what is most easily accomplishes after that, accepting of course that PCL has more stuff in to start with

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

Yes, just for a comparison I downloaded the Enlightenment version of PCLinuxOS. I would say Bodhi is miles better both out of the box and for what is most easily accomplishes after that, accepting of course that PCL has more stuff in to start with

The more stuff isn't the issue (with me anyway) When ever I have installed a Linux OS I always have to download 200 or 300 Megs of stuff/updates and then maybe a 100 megs more to get the stuff I want. Thats a lot of stuff

I think Bodhi has enormous potential. Its minimalistic nature makes it ideal for novices as well as the more experienced users. If Jeff holds to his previous statements of making Bodhi more user friendly it should be ready for the beginners as well. I was thinking of suggesting a way for new users to be able to download a beginners package to get them started. I still maintain that beginners will have trouble knowing what utilities and applications they need (just my opinion)

Cheers

[kendall.a]

As a beginner, I would definitely concur.

[MidnightCowboy]

Originally Posted by wdhpr

I still maintain that beginners will have trouble knowing what utilities and applications they need (just my opinion)

Cheers

Good point. I'm sure Jeff will take all of these suggestions on board.

[wdhpr]

Originally Posted by MidnightCowboy

Good point. I'm sure Jeff will take all of these suggestions on board.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Jeff will take the time to acknowledged users ideas. I know some ideas or questions maybe impracticable or unnecessary but for Linux newbies they are important non the less. The developers of Linux distros seem to be working overtime to try to develop the perfect distros for the MS Windows converts. At the same time there are distro's that are targeting those with a higher degree of experience with Linux and would be a disaster for the newbie. For newbies I think Ubuntu, Mint or PclinusOS would be a good choice conversely I think Fedora would be a bad one. Lately I have seen different flavors of the same distro that may be targeting beginners as well as veterans.

I think this is a exciting time for Linux and a great time for the masses to take the leap and try Linux if only to run it as a dual boot computer or perhaps run Linux from something like VirtualBox. Anyway I'm looking forward to a bright future for Linux.

Cheers

[MidnightCowboy]

You make some very good points here but two things could possibly throw a spanner into the works, although both are related.

As you say, this development is great for choice but ultimately this leads to confusion. Even for the not so confused, trying out half a dozen live distros takes time. More and more these days folks want stuff "quickly" and I'm sure many would neither want, or have available, the time to spend on this amount of research, especially as this involves different desktops and not just different flavors of the same thing.

Another consideration is cost. Windows costs money but like most other things, having bought it, folks moan but carry on. With Linux being free, and for those so inclined, there's a likely hood of never being fully satisfied with what you have, getting fed up with trying and moving back to Windows. This reason has been offered to me by quite a few Windows reverters who just couldn't settle, became frustrated, and drifted back.

[wdhpr]

As you say, this development is great for choice but ultimately this leads to confusion. Even for the not so confused, trying out half a dozen live distros takes time. More and more these days folks want stuff "quickly" and I'm sure many would neither want, or have available, the time to spend on this amount of research, especially as this involves different desktops and not just different flavors of the same thing.

Your observations zoom in on the critical decision process people have when deciding to try Linux and then to stay with Linux. I think there are some additional factors that play into the process.

Linux is new and sexy. All the really tech savoy guys are using it (even if rarely)

Linux is like a new toy. Loads of new stuff to tinker with and if I break it no problem because my computer dual boots to MS Windows. (this describes me)
I think for the vast majority that decide to try Linux will do so, only with the safety-net of a working Windows OS (IE a dual boot computer)

Another consideration is cost. Windows costs money but like most other things, having bought it, folks moan but carry on. With Linux being free, and for those so inclined, there's a likely hood of never being fully satisfied with what you have, getting fed up with trying and moving back to Windows. This reason has been offered to me by quite a few Windows reverters who just couldn't settle, became frustrated, and drifted back.

The cost factor IMO isn't much of a factor. Nearly all of the computers come with Windows preinstalled. (maybe this applies more so to the US)
They will wear the computer out and then buy a new one with the latest and greatest version of Windows. Its a win win right?

I agree most will not put themselves through the growing pains that accompany the "learning process" Sadly people tend to be a impatient resulting in missed opportunities.

So not to appear to be misleading I also dual-boot to Windows (rarely) So I can accomplish a Task (mostly video graphics) and to be fare this maybe my lack of understanding of how to use the Linux graphics software. Also my Windows graphics software is commercial and I just want to get my money's worth

Cheers

[MidnightCowboy]

Great point about the Windows safety net.

Yesterday I downloaded something containing .rar files and got a " format not supported" response from the archive manager. Doubtless there is some way to do this but by far the easiest option was to boot Windows and use 7-Zip

The one good thing about dual booting too is it gets easier to achieve with every new release. I managed to mess up the sound completely in Bodhi recently so with everything stored on an external drive anyway, I just wiped the partition and replaced it with a new copy. Just from my limited experience, Mandriva/Mageia, Ubuntu, Mint, Pardus and of course Bodhi are dead easy to set up as a dual boot so there's no real excuse for not having one