> That's *excatly* my point. Those non-geeky guys want every choice made to them > _default_ WM, _default_ panels, _default_ buttons, etc.
> And what we are talking about is a _Desktop Linux_ which is one way of saying > that we also want non-geeky persons to use Linux. > But they can't because they don't like to tweak anything. I don't see why.. every single one of the "popular" distros, and many of the lesser-known distributions all come with "sensible defaults", which can be modified or changed later if they want, or left alone if they don't. SuSE generally has KDE + kwm Ubuntu generally has GNOME + metacity ZenWalk generally has XFCE4 ..and so on. It all depends on what you want and can get used to. Play with KNOPPIX and boot with 'desktop=icewm' (or fluxbox, kde, fvwm, and whatever others the latest 5.0.1 DVD supports) and let your users decide for themselves. Tweak and shave from there. There is this ongoing myth that Linux is "too complicated" with too many options and buttons and choices, and these same people propagating this myth (witness the original online article that started this thread) seem to believe Linux needs to "remove" these things in order to succeed. I don't see that broken logic at all. KDE for example has done very well at keeping itself extremely powerful "under the hood", if you choose to pop the hood and look inside. If you don't, then you don't need to know what's in there. All you care about is that your car starts when you put in the key and it goes when you press on the gas. Taking the options out doesn't make sense, but having levels of usability, selectable by the user, is always a good approach. Are you a newbie? Choose "Basic" for your interface options in your applications or your environment. Learning a bit more about Linux? Want to try pushing your envelope? Change that interface option to "Advanced", and get used to a little more power. Feel like a guru? Twiddle all of the options on with the "Expert" interface options turned on. There's no need to "dumb it down" for these users, while crippling it for others. Give everyone what they want, with a simple radio button dialog to select between the complexity that they think they're comfortable with. > > For me, the "Linux desktop" has already taken off, years ago... I don't > > need the validation of Windows users to convince me of that. > Hey, I thought that Linux *was* a Desktop OS... ;-) Its an everything. Its like saying: "What is this lump of clay?" Its a sculpture! Its a dish! Its a coffee cup! Its a pet rock! For users used to Windows being "a PC", they're not comfortable with Linux being whatever they want it to be; router, PC, server, microwave, coffee maker, home automation controller. Its whatever you want it to be. David A. Desrosiers Linux on Power Developer Program Manager daviddes at us.ibm.com Office: 860-271-1642
