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Linux: it's now or never! (partie II)



                                 >>Once the kernel is installed, Emacs could be
                                 opened with instructions
                                 >>in a top window and the prompt or the file to edit
                                 at the bottom.
                                 
                                 >Once the kernel is installed, you need to install
                                 Emacs. 'Manually'?
                                 >
                                 >>Instructions could be formatted in HTML so that if
                                 you were installing
                                 >>a second IDE drive from a CD, you wouldn't have
                                 to find your way
                                 >>through SCSI installation from ftp. You'd read just
                                 what you need.
                                 >
                                 >How does the HTML file know what it is you need?

                                 It doesn't. That's why the links are there: if you need
                                 it, you click it. Otherwise, you read the basics.

                                 >>Autoinstalling Linux is like putting a nice body
                                 around a Ferrari's
                                 >>mechanics and giving the keys to John Doe saying
                                 "You just press the
                                 >>gas pedal and it moves forward."
                                 >
                                 >I don't know about you, but if I ever buy a Ferrari
                                 (which is
                                 >purely hypothetical) I'll be buying a car, ready for
                                 use; not a DIY
                                 >Ferrari assembly kit. 

                                 That's pretty much what Linux is. You can "assemble
                                 it" so that it asks you before overwriting a file. You
                                 can even set up a recycle bin. But no distribution
                                 will explain how to do these things while you're
                                 installing. You've got to search through piles and
                                 heaps of documentation, which most newcomers
                                 from theWindows world, complaining about its
                                 inadequacies and still unable to write a batch file,
                                 won't do. 

                                 Loosing a few files is one of the many reasons
                                 they're back to Windows. I'd bet that there are more
                                 copies of Linux gathering dust on the bottom shelves
                                 that being installed on numerous computers. That's
                                 why I'm saying that Linux is going nowhere as an
                                 OS for the general public. For now, it's only child's
                                 play and big hoopla.
Exemples:

                                 A few months ago, here in Quebec, a journalist
                                 named Dumais, attempted a switch to Linux. All the
                                 community was around, helping him to get over
                                 every hurdle, just as the Linux community is
                                 supposed to do... and even quite a bit more.

                                 The guy was reporting daily on his progress and
                                 finally got his system up and running (in 16 bit
                                 colors!) in "only" 4 days... after somebody went to his
                                 place to fix things. Then, nothing: a few "I'll be
                                 back" in December and he vanished in the haze.
                                 Don't ask about him, he's just gone. And it's Linux
                                 hoopla all over again.

                                 Another dunce, you'll say? No so long ago,
                                 Linux-Quebec was sporting a link in its section
                                 "Linux dans les écoles" about Trois-Soleils school in
                                 Laval. A few old boxes had been networked to a
                                 Pentium 166 and provided access to the internet with
                                 Netscape. The system was certainly honed to
                                 perfection, as it was installed by Jacques Gélinas of
                                 Linuxconf fame.

                                 Quite a few months later, I called the school to ask
                                 how come not a single page had been added since
                                 the installation. The director told me that a few
                                 pieces of wire had apparently been borrowed (not
                                 computers!) and the network was put down. Gelinas
                                 wrote me that his son wasn't at this school anymore
                                 and that he had other concerns. The only link to an
                                 operating Linux system was eventually taken off the
                                 Linux-Quebec page on "schools". And it's Linux
                                 hoopla all over again.

                                 I don't know how many small networks operate on
                                 NT in schools, but my nieces' school has a network
                                 and since there's no ballyhoo, my bet is that it's
                                 operating on NT. I guess there must be a few dozen
                                 of schools using NT in Quebec, but no one talks
                                 about it. It's the way to go, it's just normal.
                                  (suite à la partie III)