[wellylug] Very Important: Meeting of 13th Feb 2005

[David Murray]

On Thu, 16 Feb 2006, Centurion Computer Technology (2005) Ltd wrote:

> On Thu, 2006-02-16 at 11:53 +1300, David Murray wrote:
>> I don't think that a distro has to have only and exclusively Open Source
>> software. I think that if adding a few useful but propriatary packages
>> will give Linux more appeal... then so beit - add those packages.
> That's  not the issue.
>
> The issue is that the open source stuff they do provide is in some cases
> broken or doesn't work properly if at all with their 'Oh so fancy' gui
> tools.
>
> Just take your beloved Opensuse.  The samba server gui tools just
> doesn't work, the postgres database isn't working or installable.

Have you tried downloading fresh tarballs directly from Samba or Postgres 
developers?



>> Why should the open source nature of Linux prevent people from running
>> proprietary software if those packages are what they want to use?
>>
> It doesn't.  The problem is where commercial linux vendors giveaway
> hobbled versions of their distro's were the Open source tools are busted
> in order to force users to buy the Professional version which has it all
> working properly.

I hadn't found anything "hobbled" about SuSE 10, except parts of Xine - 
and they provided a very good reason for that (potential patent violation).

So I downloaded and installed a version that DOES play DVDs - problem 
solved.

I don't particularly care WHICH distro, so long as it would be a secure 
distro and would be easy for newbies to install and to use.


Regards

David Murray