Windoze->SEUL migrations

[Erik Walthinsen <omega@omegacs.net>]

> I kind of like that idea.  We could say "This OS is potentially destructive to
> outdated or obsolete software. Backup any data you have on your hard drive
> before proceeding."  Then nuke Windows and say "Obsolete software, Windows 95,
> was detected and removed." =)

I don't know about you, but most people I've seen with Windoze on their 
machine have large volumes of data on the same partition, and no 
mass-storage backup options.  Even if there were a tape drive available, 
retrieving that information under Linux is non-trivial, as it involves 
understanding and coding to the whichever peculiar format was used by 
Norton or M$ or whoever did the backup.

We *cannot* ignore Windoze partitions, because we are not the dominant OS 
yet.  Until we can safely say that all people who install SEUL are doing so 
within minutes of receiving their new computer, which out of the kindness 
of Bill's own heart (hah!) has Windoze95 pre-installed, we cannot assume 
that we can just wipe out any type 6 partition we find.

For the moment we can simply ignore Windoze partitions, as we will not be 
interoperating with them for the first few months of development.  After 
that, however, we must spend a *large* amount of time in development, 
testing, and trials of software to deal cleanly with existing Windoze 
installations, and more importantly, FAT-bound *data*.

     Erik Walthinsen <omega@seul.org> - SEUL Project system architect
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       /  \                SEUL: Simple End-User Linux -
      |    | M E G A            Creating a Linux distribution
      _\  /_                         for the home or office user