Beta 8.10 released

[Art Alexion]

Lisi,

That is an excellent point about hardware manufacturers pre-installing  
Linux. It is a huge step forward in widespread Linux adoption and  
won't happen with unstable distros.

--

Art Alexion
Sent unsigned from an iPod. That's the reason for the top posting as  
well.

On Oct 7, 2008, at 6:13 PM, Lisi Reisz <lisi.reisz at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Tuesday 07 October 2008 19:10:06 Art Alexion wrote:
>> Thinking of Linux users as all beta testers plays into the fears of
>> those who cling to the commercial OSs, that Linux is a toy for the
>> hobbyist, and not usable by the masses or ready to support the
>> enterprise.  While that isn't true today and hasn't been for a  
>> while, I
>> fear that those who force the adoption of a work in progress as the
>> default, and those who say that all Linux users are beta testers,  
>> feed
>> that misconception.
>
> I frequently use Linux *because* it is stable and reliable where  
> Windows, in
> my perception, is not.  For myself I use Debian Lenny, but KDE  
> 3.5.9.  In
> other words, for myself I can tolerate a limited amount of  
> instability and
> sort out my problems.
>
> For my dependants, however, I need stability.  My granddaughter has  
> Kubuntu
> 8.04 on her laptop and PCLinuxOS 2007 on her desktop.  My husband has
> PCLinuxOS 2008 Minime on his desktop.  Stability is crucial for both  
> of them.
> My granddaughter's laptop will not be dist-upgraded at the end of  
> the month.
> She has no desire to be, nor should she be forced to be, a Beta  
> tester.  My
> husband, if faced by beta testing, would probably run screaming from  
> the
> room.
>
> They both like Linux precisely because it is stable.  Are we to send  
> them and
> others packing?  Are we to tell Asus and Acer and HP and... to stop  
> putting
> Linux on their mini notebooks because Linux is not intended for the  
> general
> public, but only for testers and developers?
>
> I think it is obvious which side of this divide I fall.
>
> Lisi