Re: A slightly different installation view

[Kevin Forge <forgeltd@usa.net>]

"Dana M. Diederich" wrote:

In my opinion the skipping of NIC detection is the least of the possible
goofs the install could make since it's the semi pro who has a network
at all.  

With that in mind, it should still be possible to detect and install
practically all hardware automatically.  There are many ways to 
simulate this with current tools and I have herd 2.2 adds much in the 
way of auto detection at the kernel level.  Add a frunt ent to ISAPnP
and it should all look seamless.

GUI installation is possible and has been attempted before.  ( By RedHat
).
That didn't work at the time because the technology wasn't ready.
Another distribution has appeared on the sean that claims it will manage
this task with a KDE l&F and all the new toys.  I am still waiting for 
them to show me the code.
 
> I hope these observations and comments may prove useful to your groups.  I
> believe the 'critical mass' that Linux needs to achieve should come from the
> home market.  Linux has and will continue to make strong inroads into the
> server market.  That's a Done Deal as far as I'm concerned.

17.2% would suggest as much.  With config tools coming on strong and
close
to challenging NT Linux' share of that market should at least double in
the
next 12 months.  This would mean outselling NT since it's share would
have 
to shrink for it to happen.  Of note Linux matches all other unixes 
combined in sales :)
 
> Desktop trends will start at the home market, in my opinion.  As I mentioned
> previously, business has the technical ability to install mass quantities of
> Linux desktop systems right now.  They don't because of the perceived lack of
> 'main line' applications.  As Linux gains a wide home footprint, the strong
> suite of applications we see now will expand greatly, and business will, out
> of necessity, switch desktops.  It's well known that the cost of ownership
> of UNIX in general, and Linux in specific, is much lower than Windows.
 
This is the bet Corel has made with it's Netwinder.  
Once critical mass is achieved, vendors have 2 options.  Deliver specs 
or write drivers themselves.  Now that it's happened on the server side 
I will ask around if there is any difficulty getting drivers for SCSI
and high end ethernet cards.  When it reaches the desktop Sound and
video cards will fall right in line too.
 
> (*) I believe in the term GNU/Linux.  As such, I'll always try to mention
> that term in things that I write.  However, I believe that constantly
> referring to the OS as GNU/Linux is distracting to read.

Pleas tell that to RMS :)
I have had a couple of pleasant discussions with him on the matter 
( via EMail ).  We still disagree but since he outranks me I will
be humble :)