Linked by John Collins on Wed 4th Jun 2003 15:23 UTC
There seem to be many reviews on Red Hat 9.0, but all seem to be written by Linux junkies who really know their stuff. What about the MS Windows Convert? They say people like the first thing they use (i.e. if you learn to drive a manual transmission, you prefer it over automatic). If this is true, how does Red Hat 9.0 introduce a novice pc user to the world of computers? I hope to answer some of those questions in this tiny review.
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I've been doing desktop support for a long time now, and from my experience, I would have to say that most people shouldn't configure an OS much less install one. I enjoyed tweaking Windows, and when I felt I had learned as much as I could, I decided to try Linux. My first experience was with Red Hat 7.2, after much research on Linux. I had a good idea what I was getting myself into before the first cd slid into the drive.
By trial and error, here I am almost 2 years later, now running Mandrake 9.1, and fairly confident in my skills. I can do everything that I could and couldn't do in Windows. But it came at a price...that price was a lot of cursing and pulling my hair out. You will get nowhere if you are unwilling to read the documentation, and reinstall, reinstall, reinstall, until you get it right.
People shouldn't install Linux as a way to get back at Microsoft, that's not why it exists. It exists for the people who want to get their hands dirty, and learn about how an OS works. You can't do that in Windows.
As far as Linux on the desktop. It is ready. All of the applications are there to be productive. In fact it excels as a home OS (with the exception of off the shelf software, of course.) But, just like Windows it should be installed by someone with experience, and configured for the user.
Supporting Linux desktops is no harder than Windows and with the programs that are on the horizon, it's going to be even easier.
Enjoy your experiences. I am.
B