[ncolug] Re: Mossberg

I couldn't agree more here. A well built Linux machine today can easily be run by any non-technical person out there. This was not the case just 2-3 years ago.
My brother and my wife now exclusively use Linux. Yes, I had to install and tweak it for their machines, but now that it is up and running they're fine. How many users would be OK if they had to install their own version of Windows? I think Linux's hardware support is better than Microsoft and Apple, personally.
There are A LOT of people who are working very hard in making Linux a plug and go system. Just look at the recent announcement by one of the kernel maintainers. He is willing do develop and maintain drivers for ANY device. This is exactly how to accomplish what Mr. Mossberg describes.
Are there some devices that are not yet supported? Sure. The reason most hardware manufactures give is that the market just isn't there for them to warrant coding drivers. Well, as mentioned above this is no longer an excuse, so look for less and less hardware to be an issue.
Where Microsoft and Apple have the leg-up is OEM installation. They have a distribution channel where PCs come with their OS pre-installed and tweaked to work on that hardware. I think that if a viable OEM channel was available for a Linux distribution, it would be ready for any user out of the box. 



Mike K.



Chuck Stickelman wrote:
How do you help the process? One of the things that limts me is the fact that i am not a programmer. 
Another is time.  I can't remeber the last time I could afford to only work 40 
hrs/wk.

At the same time it must be noted that some one is spending time to do 
something about it; Linux is far better off today than it was 2 years ago.  
Who's doing that?
Chuck 
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