On Fri, 2002-01-25 at 14:34, Rodd Ahrenstorff wrote: > I have not seen much talk on this list concerning the "growth" of Linux on > the home desktop. Specifically I would like to ask; what characteristics > will a successful distro need to employ? How will the newest versions of > Linux (ie. Lycoris (Redmond), Elx, Xandros, and OEone) fare compared to older > favorites? I think most would agree that Mandrake and Red Hat hold the > majority of desktops for home users, with SuSe, Debian, Slack and Caldera > bringing up the rear. Will these distros lose market share? Do you care? > How do the "gurus" feel about the move to increase ease of use and the > similarities to the Windows "look and feel"? And lastly, have others on the > list tried these new distros? I have used RedHat (from 5.1 through 7.1), Caldera (eDesktop 2.4), and Mandrake (7.2 through 8.1 presently) all on my ThinkPad at various times, and with each new release or version I have been more and more impressed as my hardware was more easily detected and configured at install time, and as the available configuration tools (mostly GUI) have improved vastly. I am presently looking for a change from Mandrake 8.1, to a more slimmed-down, power-user distro. I've been thinking maybe Debian, but I'm not sure if I am ready to take the plunge. Therefore, I am extremely interested in the comments of those who have tried some of the newer (and lesser-known) distros like Lycoris, Elx, Gentoo, etc. If these new kids on the block are as good as some of them look (at their websites), then I have no doubt they will begin to take some market share from the better-established distros like RedHat and Mandrake. On the other hand, we all hope that rather than just taking part of the existing Linux market, any and all distros should be actually helping to grow the Linux and desktop PC market -- by taking some existing share from Microsoft, by bringing in new PC users, whatever. My guess is that each distribution will develop its own market, and that while there may be some shifting of new Linux users from distro to distro, most of us probably settle on a personal favorite after trying a few, and from then on, the market stabilizes. In other words, RedHat or Mandrake or SUSe (or whoever) will tend to have a stable market with "mature" users (users who have gone through the experimentation stage, and are ready to settle down with a stable distro which fulfills their needs), while newbie users will always be a shifting market as they try out various distros to see which one they like best. Just my $.02 > I would like to add that I defend the newer distros. After using Red Hat 7.2 > and Mandrake 8.0/8.1 I have installed and used both Elx and Lycoris. I am > using Lycoris Desktop/LX now and find it the most "ergonomic" desktop version > of Linux to date. Since I only started using Linux four months ago, I cannot > give comments with any real historical perspective but it would seem these > newest distros are definately trying to steal away some Windows users by > incorporating many of the same characteristics found therein. Although I am > slowly learing the command line, I have yet to need it using the Lycoris > distro. And in my opinion...thats a good thing. I rather enjoy using the command line (and non-GUI apps) for many functions, including editing various system configuration files by hand, rather than using GUI tools. It helps me to learn how things work "under the covers", and makes it easier to troubleshoot problems later on, since I know what I did to get there in the first place. Dave Sherman (not Sherohman) -- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy, and good with ketchup.