User friendly Free Software Desktops

[Jeff Davies]

Josef Dalcolmo wrote:

  I said:
  > > When installing Debian, I never know which packages of many equally
  > > appealing ones I should use. [...]

>  I can install Win2000 in a couple of hours, then configure it to my
>tastes
>  within days. It took me about a month of work on my new Laptop just to
>install
>  all needed components (like PCMCIA) (the laptop does NOT have the latest
>  hardware, it is rather at least 2 years old in terms of hardware).


You should try Mandrake 8.0. (or an old 7.0 or 7.1) - The install on my
laptop was pretty simple
and without problem.

:IMHO debian will get there eventually too. What you don't count is
the years you spent learning the "microsoft way" - ie what all those
fields mean in the Networking part of control panel etc.
Ultimately, though, people buy preconfigured systems. I am
seriously pissed that Dell refuse to sell a Linux system in europe
"because of a deal between Dell and Microsoft". And you can't get
a bare system to install anything other than Red Hat. (and they
charge the same for Red Hat as for Microsoft).
Please someone tell me that Dell has changed.

Jeff Davies