Re: [gNewSense-users] ideas & suggestions about gNewSense

[Bruno Miguel]

On Tuesday 25 November 2008 02:43:40 Karl Goetz wrote:
> Just because somethings "more popular" doesn't mean its a better 
tool,
> or more useful.

Better tools can be a matter of opinion. I'm using Kmail 1.10.1 and I say 
it's the better email client I've used, but that's just my opinion. Some 
people here may disagree with me and say, for example, that Mutt is 
much better.

> > - OpenJDK also should be preinstalled at gNewSense (or IcedTea 
with
> > Open Java
> > applets).
>
> Java is huge (all its implementations are). I think someone else said
> gjc was included by default, so java may already be there.

The user needs to install IcedTea, available in gNS repos.

> > - a free Flash Player (that also works!)
>
> Bleh. No flash is a feature, in my humble opinion.

Subscribed!

> > - preinstalled free multimedia codecs (like Ogg Vorbis, FLAC,
>
> I thought these are installed by default?
>
> > Musepack, etc.). For
> > newbies at gNewSense it's very frustrating, confusing & irritating to
> > install all these codecs,
> > unless they knows what should be install and what not! Make 
things for
> > newcomers a bit
> > easier! Myself, I was sitting hours at my computer, to find out what
>
> How much easier? Why don't we fly someone around giving training 
lessons
> to everyone who downloads the iso (or how about no?)
>
> > (free) codecs I should
> > install and which not.
>
> If its in the repos and is non-free its a bug, so every codec
> installable via synaptic should be free.

GStreamer, as far as I know, provides free (as in freedom) support for 
all major formats. It's just a matter of installing all the gstreamer 
related packages.

> > If all these things (above) are preinstalled at gNewSense's next
> > edition(s), so I am quite
> > sure that more and more people would switch to gNewSense. I am 
a great
>
> Just as if it included proprietary drivers, firmware, non-free artwork,
> etc it would be more popular (And I could call it... hm... Ubuntu
> perhaps.)
>
> > supporter of
> > gNewSense and I like your philosophy of 100% free software, but
> > remember that some
> > things for newcomers -or people with little computer knowledge- 
are a
> > bit too
> > complicated. That's why some things really should be preinstalled 
to
>
> I'm one of those people who sees no good reason to make people 
who
> *are* familiar/competent move somewhere else in the name of 
making it
> easy for those who are not.

I see this like a drug addict leaving dugs (that is, a dictatorware user 
leaving it for free software). I had to make the same transition, and for 
some months I was using some dictatorware, decreasing until I installed 
gNS. That was the day I voluntarily stop using blobs.

> > make things easier
> > for people to use gNewSense. Make gNewSense as easy as "Linux 
Mint",
> > but with 100%
> > free software preinstalled, not with properitary softwares as in
> > Linux Mint. That's my
> > suggestion.

I there any 100% new user friendly system? We know the answer to this 
(and no, Mac OS is not. that dictatorware system has a lot of placebo 
effect, due to marketing and low brain use): no! Every system, free or 
not, has a learning curve and fills different need for different users. gNS 
fills a need, and I think it's quite userfriendly.
For documentation, Ubuntu's wiki is a good reference, like any other 
website. But never forget not to accept tips that suggest dictatorware.

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