I’ve been slashdotted.
In a March 31 column, I detailed my experiences installing the most recent version of RedHat Linux 5.2. It wasn’t pretty: I couldn’t get my dual-boot system up and running until I opened up my machine and read some information printed on the label to the hard-disk drive. The point behind the column was that those selling commercial versions of Linux need to deliver an easier-to-install product if nonprogrammers are ever to adopt the operating system.
Shortly after the column was published, someone noted it in a posting on slashdot.org, a site stuffed with information for the most technical among us. As with the MacMarines before them, the folks at slashdot take their technology very personally. So when my column pointed out some of the shortcomings of installing Linux, the floodgates opened. I received more than 300 pieces of e-mail about the column. Nearly 70 percent were negative, more than five percent included words we can’t use on a family web site, and three of them included the Happy99 Virus that’s circulating nowadays.
The most well-reasoned of the letters brought up topics worth addressing. What follows are excerpts from some of these and my responses.
Alan Bookman wrote “You should have used the current version of Partition Magic. It makes repartioning EASY.” This is true (although I should mention that the support engineer at RedHat discouraged me from trying it). But why should someone have to buy a second program just to install the first one? Yes, it’s unfair that we’re worried about installing Linux on a Windows machine rather than the other way around, but last time I checked the reality was that Windows machines were much more common than Linux boxes. I have yet to hear of someone trying to install Windows over Linux — although after writing this, I suppose I’ll receive an avalanche of such notes.
Otis Bricker wrote: “It seems unfair to criticize Linux for failing to support FAT32 disk formats when NT, an MS product, lacks the same support. At least with Linux, support is available with a bit of work for this and most other disk formats. The same is not true for Microsoft’s own offerings.” Fair enough, Otis. But whether it be Microsoft or any other company, a software product that can be installed without “a bit of work” is one more likely to capture converts.
On the same FAT32 topic, Eric Lee Green wrote: “Dual boot machines are a pain, period. I keep begging my boss to discontinue dual-boot machines, 80 percent of our support calls are for Windows while it accounts for perhaps 10 percent of our sales, but so it goes.” He’s right, but as long as Windows is the dominant operating system, people are going to want access to Windows applications.
Jesse Perez sent a helpful note in which he wrote, “While Red Hat 5.2 may not ‘support’ FAT32, I know that Pacific HiTech’s TurboLinux 3.0.1 supports because I am running it on a dual-boot configuration on my PC at home with Win98. Use Partition-It in Windows to create 2 empty DOS partitions 1 of 64MB and 1 of at least 600MB. Then use a utility to convert them to type 82 and 83. After that, you are all set to run install.” True enough (I tested it), but again, who but a slashdot reader would go through so much just to prepare a system for an OS installation?”
Oren Levy spoke for many when he wrote:
“It’s unfair to pick on Linux, when the competition is no better. Installing Linux is just as easy — or hard — as installing Windows. Not bad for free, open software.” I would agree, if I hadn’t spent more than $50 for RedHat Linux.
Many of the notes suggested that people shouldn’t use Linux unless they were adept. That may be fun for an insular community, but any operating system that aims for the mainstream–as Linux adherents say it does–can’t work from that point of view. Ray Clouse wrote: “You media types hear about Linux, so you go try it, run into a minor problem, and then you give up and say ‘Linux sucks.’ Well, boo hoo. Unix is a user-friendly operating system, it’s just picky about who it’s friends with.” That attitude will not help Linux gain momentum outside programmers.
Speaking of attitude, I’d be denying you entertainment if I didn’t offer a sample of some of the more amusing flames provoked by the column. Christopher J. McGovern, in an e-mail with the header “How much does Microsoft Pay you??” wrote, “You work in the industry but you have problems installing Linux?? Maybe you should try interior decorating!!!” Thanks for the suggestion, Chris, but Microsoft would have taken me off their payroll a few years ago after my “Microsoft Is Doomed” series and my columns about the shortcomings in the Redmond giant support services — I don’t expect anything of RedHat that I don’t expect from Microsoft, too.
And let’s not forget Myron J. Mayfield, who sent this helpful missive (I’ve left out the off-color parts, but left in the poor use of punctuation marks): “Who ever found REDHAT 5.2 hard to install is a moron and should not be allowed near a computer. Keep playing with your Raspbery IMAC. One other question??? Can this neanderthal tie his or her shoe laces????”
Back to reality, let’s give the final word to Roger Cox: “Shared a bit of your same experiences in installing RedHat. The market for Linux is for technogeeks at home, and most office (!) workers, those who have access to tech support and can use their office suite — eventually (2 to 3 years) they’ll meet in the middle and cover home folks who don’t want to crack open their case or download patches from Botswana. Still a cooler platform, and I’m rooting for it — wouldn’t have gotten the Melissa virus if I had been in Linux.” That’s it in a nutshell: people are rooting for a Linux that’s easy to install and run. Will anyone deliver such a product?
