[Lilux-help] Inventory

[Patrick Kaell]

> Slackware and desktop? You should then specify who is supposed
> to do the necessary administration tasks. If it is some non-clued
> end user (say, your grandmother), then IMHO slackware definitely
> won't do for a desktop. If it's for a company desktop, it won't
> do either, because it's going to be hard if not impossible to
> get external support for slackware (hint: PHBs won't even look
> at a standard SuSE or RedHat/Fedora, it has to be an "Enterprise
> Desktop" version).
> There remains a sort of middle ground of clued "power users"
> who can have fun with it by themselves. You and I may fit the
> bill, but we're exceptions there. If these same people have the
> time and inclination to do the tasks for others (hint: I sure
> don't, at best I'll do it for close family), then maybe a very
> few more people might be converted, but... I'll grant you the
> small IT company with a clued admin who could manage the small
> park for the whole company.

Most end users (grand mother included) do not do any administration, 
even on Windows machines. They buy complete PCs with Windows 
preinstalled without ever reinstalling Windows.

I have already seen this. There are people who buy a new PC after 3 
years, because their old PC has got too slow. Not slow compared to new 
technology or too slow with new demanding software. No, it has got much 
slower than it was 3 years ago with the same software in absolute terms. 
We all know that this is because of the aging Windows installation with 
filesystem fragmentation, dead registry entries and unused DLLs. These 
people do not know that they can reinstall Windows because they have 
never installed it. They think that the processor becomes *tired* after 
3 years!!!. Like an old car engine with a high kilometrage!

Let's be honest: No Linux distro is suited for those people. Only 
preinstalled Linux PCs might be an answer, especially because Linux 
installations normally do not get slower after years of usage.

Patrick Kaell