Subject: Re: WARTY review

[cyberbot at softhome.net]

I have read some of the negative reviews of Ubuntu, and from what I gather 
people are basing these reviews on ease of use and packages that are 
pre-installed which gives the average computer user everything they need 
right off the bat including all the necessary apps and other things like 
multimedia support. 

Take for instance one review I read which mentions the fact that many Linux 
distros are striving to get new users to migrate over from Winblows, however 
sometimes the distros do not make that transition as easy as it may seem. 

This particular review mentions MEPIS which is basically a one man distro 
and the fact that once MEPIS is installed or even if it is run off the live 
CD you immediately have multimedia support with things like Java, Real 
Player, Flash, and support for mp3, etc. pre-installed and right there ready 
to use along with every application the average user coming from Winblows 
would need. 

However on the other hand it was mentioned that with Ubuntu the user has to 
find and install many or all of these packages themselves. For new Linux 
users, especially people coming from Winblows this is going to be quite a 
task and it is going to turn them off to Linux very quickly. Can you imagine 
a completely new Linux user trying to install Java? :o 

Is there no way to include these things in Ubuntu? If so it would make the 
transition for prospective new Linux users a much, much easier pill to 
swallow. 

Anyway, that is the gist I get from several of the reviews I've read. :/ 

There were also numerous links to articles about MEPIS including this 
glowing one at DesktopLinux.com: 

http://www.desktoplinux.com/articles/AT3135712364.html 

regards, 

Lee