Linked by Adam S on Tue 6th Aug 2002 03:52 UTC
Just a few weeks after the beta release of the next version of their Linux based OS, Red Hat has released 7.3.93 of their software, once again, code-named Limbo. Those of you who read my first Limbo review know that I gave it a favorable review. After downloading and installing the second beta, I had to take a few days before writing this article.
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To be blunt, I understand the app authors named them and deserve credit, but long live the GPL. For a desktop Linux to survive, the distribution vendor must suck it up and get rid of all app names that aren't self-explanatory.
And this is precisely why Linux will never be a Windows killer. All software bundled with a linux distribution is specific to that distribution, and works well with that distribution. A linux distro bundled with little or no software is unusable (ie Corel Linux).
What happened to the third parties? Why can't third parties develop good software, with strong branding for Linux? Could it be because of the package management issues, and the fact that every distro is a little bit different? Therefore, if your program isn't freely available to be packaged up by RedHat or Debian or Mandrake or SuSE or whoever, you haven't got a chance.
While on the subject - is the after install package selection and mamagement any better than RedHat 7.3? For instance, during install if 7,3, I can chose to install GNOME which installed and everything was fine - until I decided I wanted to try KDE. I could find no graphical equivalent of the package selector used by the installer. I had to struggle with GNORPM and sort through a pile of package dependencies, I had to *guess* which packages to install (anything with "KDE" in it's name?). Where's the easy package management post install a la SuSE or Mandrake?
Oh wait, I need to subscribe to redhat network, don't I?