-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Paul bdi-emc@ntlworld.com wrote:
On Saturday 05 November 2005 11:58, Brett Parker wrote:
<>>> Installing Debian is like being greased, and wrestling with an eel.
Installing Debian imho does not have to be difficult, the new installer under Sarge should drag you through it quickly and easily.
That does *NOT* apply to Woody - it's about as easy to understand as a difficult to understand thing.
Indeed it doesn't apply to woody, woody was pre debian installer... woody is *ollllllld*, very old, infact... we all rejoiced when we got a new debian release, the world was good again!
Yay indeed. Sarge going stable, despite a few nasty buggy packages, was indeed a day to rejoice. It is still let down by an arcane and newbie-unfriendly installer. Thanks to the likes of M$, RH, SuSE, etc, large numbers of potential users have come to expect (should I say "demand") a simple click'n'drool installer. From the screenshots I've seen of d-i, Debian fails badly on this front.
Hang on... Paul... this is a really silly question I know... but have you actually *used* d-i?! There are a hellofalot of Ubuntu users out there that swear by it, and a hell of a lot of people have used the ubuntu live cd (which, guess what, starts with d-i to get going)... "Screenshots" != how something feels. Pointy-clicky is all well and good, but it doesn't neccessarily make it *easy* - installers should always aim to be *easy* rather than "pretty"... d-i is not unfriendly, sometimes it asks a few too many questions, but ubuntu kinda got round that by preseeding the 'unneccessary' ones.
Personally, I *hate* the 'pretty' installers of SuSE, RedHat and Windows... they get the hell in the way of installing, display stupid advertising saying "we are the best, all hail us", and put additional load on the system that is completely unneccessary for an install.
YMMV. HTH. HAND. - -- Brett Parker web: http://www.sommitrealweird.co.uk/ email: iDunno@sommitrealweird.co.uk