09-26-2017, 07:18 AM
Hello again.
I’ve been doing some research in the meantime, both theory and practice. From the theory here are a few links which may bring more light into the subject:
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160104#qa
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160711#qa
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubuntu-spyware.html
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linu...asons.html
I’m not into Linux for the wrong reasons, I hope. What fascinated me from the start about the free software idea are its implications: a greater degree of trust in the software that one uses, less bugs, less power to capitalism...
Because capitalism is a self-defeating, self inflicting horror. Paraphrasing an ancient saying: “When two tigers fought, one will be dead while the other badly wounded.” Nobody is truly happy. Maybe by sharing resources both might have been?
Making a profit can be done in an ethical way, but that implies fair-play and the understanding that we are not masters of this planet, we are just simple, humble visitors who should respect one another.
How this translates into the software world: Software company/community X needs to earn some money from their hard work. Fair enough, no problem with that. But be transparent about it and don’t mislead customers. Invite them to test and audit your code, encourage them to use their faculty of reason and ask questions.
Make the product both user friendly and reliable. Offer some basic free support and get paid for extended one.
Need extra money at some point? Ask for donations, make a fund raising campaign, be up front with user data handling. That’s superior marketing.
Actually, that’s the best marketing. The one that is not cruel/uncaring/capitalistic at the core. The one that treats humans like partners, not sheep. The one that creates possibilities where all can win and where nobody is left right-less/home-less etc. You will win more hearts in this way.
From what I’ve seen so far, Linux Lite scores well at these points. But it can still be improved.
……………...
At an even more concrete level, I consider these three factors important enough in a product to influence trust in that product:
1. User friendliness
Few distros that I’ve tried so far are truly user friendly. Lite is definitely among them. It works out of the box and lets one get productive with minimum configuration effort. Wine and PlayOnLinux support greatly helps when Windows software is needed.
2. Reliability
Even fewer of the user friendly distros are reliable. By “reliable” I mean consistent, stable and not suffering from regressions.
I’ve used Xubuntu in the past a lot, since it was a simple and very user friendly distro (in no small part thanks to the Xfce desktop as well), less bloated and easier on system resources than either vanilla Ubuntu or Linux Mint.
But in the last days I’ve tried to boot Xubuntu 16.04.3 live from a usb stick. Didn’t work. Froze at boot without even any menu showing at all. On the very same hardware, Xubuntu 14.04 worked fine. From the very same stick, I’ve been able to boot the latest Lite. What conclusion can be drawn from these facts?
3. Communication with the team
This means both friendly attitude towards new users and competence in finding the best and simplest solutions.
This is the most sensitive factor. I don’t know if any distro community can achieve top score here, but I know from personal experience that Mint is low, while Lite is decent.
I’ll bring my own examples with Lite:
a) When I asked about how to unmount the iso, I still couldn’t understand what to do exactly, since I’ve never used that procedure before. I have feared to ask more about the matter, since I have felt some degree of impatience from my respondent after my tries.
Only accidentally I’ve discovered that there is a temporary folder that is created in the same directory where the iso file is mounted. That temporary folder only lasts as long as the iso file remains mounted. Only by right clicking on THAT folder was I able to unmount the previously mounted iso.
What added to my confusion was the fact that one can right click inside the mounted iso and no effect was achieved. I just think an ordinary user could not know all of these without proper instructions…
b) When I asked about:
https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/on-to...on-screen/
I have received a link containing many different opinions about how to approach the problem. Which one is right, up-to-date and doesn’t risk breaking the system, though? Again, confusing.
………………
In any case, I think overall Lite has achieved a lot in making Linux easier to use (as it should be). Hopefully it won’t ever let its users down.
Sorry for the long post, but some things need be said. My hat off to Jerry and the Lite team, my respects to everyone who has taken this matter seriously. Best regards.
I’ve been doing some research in the meantime, both theory and practice. From the theory here are a few links which may bring more light into the subject:
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160104#qa
https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20160711#qa
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/ubuntu-spyware.html
https://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/linu...asons.html
I’m not into Linux for the wrong reasons, I hope. What fascinated me from the start about the free software idea are its implications: a greater degree of trust in the software that one uses, less bugs, less power to capitalism...
Because capitalism is a self-defeating, self inflicting horror. Paraphrasing an ancient saying: “When two tigers fought, one will be dead while the other badly wounded.” Nobody is truly happy. Maybe by sharing resources both might have been?
Making a profit can be done in an ethical way, but that implies fair-play and the understanding that we are not masters of this planet, we are just simple, humble visitors who should respect one another.
How this translates into the software world: Software company/community X needs to earn some money from their hard work. Fair enough, no problem with that. But be transparent about it and don’t mislead customers. Invite them to test and audit your code, encourage them to use their faculty of reason and ask questions.
Make the product both user friendly and reliable. Offer some basic free support and get paid for extended one.
Need extra money at some point? Ask for donations, make a fund raising campaign, be up front with user data handling. That’s superior marketing.
Actually, that’s the best marketing. The one that is not cruel/uncaring/capitalistic at the core. The one that treats humans like partners, not sheep. The one that creates possibilities where all can win and where nobody is left right-less/home-less etc. You will win more hearts in this way.
From what I’ve seen so far, Linux Lite scores well at these points. But it can still be improved.
……………...
At an even more concrete level, I consider these three factors important enough in a product to influence trust in that product:
1. User friendliness
Few distros that I’ve tried so far are truly user friendly. Lite is definitely among them. It works out of the box and lets one get productive with minimum configuration effort. Wine and PlayOnLinux support greatly helps when Windows software is needed.
2. Reliability
Even fewer of the user friendly distros are reliable. By “reliable” I mean consistent, stable and not suffering from regressions.
I’ve used Xubuntu in the past a lot, since it was a simple and very user friendly distro (in no small part thanks to the Xfce desktop as well), less bloated and easier on system resources than either vanilla Ubuntu or Linux Mint.
But in the last days I’ve tried to boot Xubuntu 16.04.3 live from a usb stick. Didn’t work. Froze at boot without even any menu showing at all. On the very same hardware, Xubuntu 14.04 worked fine. From the very same stick, I’ve been able to boot the latest Lite. What conclusion can be drawn from these facts?
3. Communication with the team
This means both friendly attitude towards new users and competence in finding the best and simplest solutions.
This is the most sensitive factor. I don’t know if any distro community can achieve top score here, but I know from personal experience that Mint is low, while Lite is decent.
I’ll bring my own examples with Lite:
a) When I asked about how to unmount the iso, I still couldn’t understand what to do exactly, since I’ve never used that procedure before. I have feared to ask more about the matter, since I have felt some degree of impatience from my respondent after my tries.
Only accidentally I’ve discovered that there is a temporary folder that is created in the same directory where the iso file is mounted. That temporary folder only lasts as long as the iso file remains mounted. Only by right clicking on THAT folder was I able to unmount the previously mounted iso.
What added to my confusion was the fact that one can right click inside the mounted iso and no effect was achieved. I just think an ordinary user could not know all of these without proper instructions…
b) When I asked about:
https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/on-to...on-screen/
I have received a link containing many different opinions about how to approach the problem. Which one is right, up-to-date and doesn’t risk breaking the system, though? Again, confusing.
………………
In any case, I think overall Lite has achieved a lot in making Linux easier to use (as it should be). Hopefully it won’t ever let its users down.
Sorry for the long post, but some things need be said. My hat off to Jerry and the Lite team, my respects to everyone who has taken this matter seriously. Best regards.