[Précédent (date)] [Suivant (date)] [Précédent (sujet)] [Suivant (sujet)] [Index par date] [Index par sujet]

Isn't grassroot Linux losing ground?



Isn't grassroot Linux losing ground?

In thread: Problems with communicator on Corel

Brian Moore ([email protected]) wrote:

>when potato makes stable it will be trivial to upgrade both Corel and Debian.

"when potato makes stable"... 

Is it my ear or this phrasing cautious? Shouldn't it be "In a month,
upgrading to potato will be trivial?"

Despite the muffling, we all know Debian has accumulated delay upon
delay and it's not unlikely that its 2.2 kernel will be out only when
other distros have 2.4 out. (Of course, by then, stable will mean
stable!) By "chance", 2.4 is 6 months late. 
(Torvalds' estimate. See: 
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-1539905.html?tag=st.cn.1518530lnews.lthdne
)

But, at least, Debian works with the good old hardware, doesn't it?
Not obvious. Recently there was a conference on debian in Montreal.
Despite my suggestion to make an installation on a most standard 486
ATI-SB16 oldie, the only subjects covered were the "development model,
specificities and innovations." Debian, apparently, is "for experts
only". And vi doesn't seem to be the problem. (Otherwise, I'll fix it
in a paragraph.)

If a beginner is really serious about Linux, I was told, he shouldn't
expect to run it on a 486, as a professionnal would. He should buy a
beastly PIII 733 Mhz with 256 MB Ram so KDE or GNOME can provide real
good configuration tools for X, PPP, etc.

KDE or what, you said? What's this NO-ME I've vaguely heard about?
Never seen it on hot distros! Corel and Mandrake (whose financial
structure we know so little about it might as well be a front for MSFT
: ) come with KDE.

And what about Communicator's development?

I certainly hope somebody can prove me dead wrong, but my feeling is
all non-commercial Linux endeavors are late: kernel 2.4 , Potato,
GNOME, Communicator 5, and even basic configuration tools! While the
new market economy of Linux has made some overnight billionnaires,
isn't grassroot Linux losing ground?

Gilles Pelletier
--
La Masse Critique
http://altern.org/gipe
Rencontrez Néfertiti, Einstein, Tocqueville, etc.