[DC LoCo] Software Freedom Day / Takoma Park Folk Festival... Thinking ahead.

[Ted Smith]

On Thu, 2011-05-19 at 22:27 -0400, Nicholas Wheeler wrote:
> On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 9:45 PM, Brian Curtis <briancurtis.wx at gmail.com> wrote:
> > most computers boot from CD nowadays, plus windows will load the autorun on
> > the CD which will let them boot from the CD.
> >
> > win-win
> 
> most computers boot from USB nowadays, plus the linux kernel will
> autorun off the USB when it boots!

Actually, I've had a lot of trouble getting non-sophisticated users to
get computers to boot from USB. Most newer hardware can, but a lot of
laptops have it turned off, and some buggy BIOSes that are abandonware
from the 70s with flashy skins (e.g. every non-free BIOS) will remove
USB drives from the boot order every time you reboot without the same
device inserted into the same slot.

Booting from USB is at about the level of requisite sophistication as
booting from CDs in 2001. And the singularity is going to happen in
twenty years and then all of this "save the planet" bullshit will be
revealed as the irrelevant waste of time it is. So it seems like a
lose-lose to toss the easy-to-use, tested system in order to please
Mother Gaia.

Fortunately, it doesn't seem like either tactic precludes the other, so
if you want to advertise somehow to impart that people who want Ubuntu
can get it put on a USB stick at TPFF, you can do that.
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