More on Linux: PCLinuxOS
I decided to give the other top-of-the-popularity-list Linux distro a shot — that’d be PCLinuxOS, which I used once before and remember liking. This time, though, Xubuntu struck me as a much better option.
One review of PCLinuxOS sums it up nicely:
The word Linux is synonymous with choice. And that is exactly what the hard working developers at PCLinuxOS have provided. For each task, be it graphics manipulation, chatting or audio & video, there are at least 2 choices of software and in most cases, more than two.
The rest of that review goes on in a similar vein. It’s the PC Magazine effect — the (incorrect) idea that more features means a better product. In fact, unless you want or need all those features, the opposite is true.
When I installed PCLinuxOS and glanced through the applications menu (akin to Windows’ Start button), I was overwhelmed. It wasn’t just because there were so many choices, but because I had no clue A) What some of the things did, and B) Which of the many choices was the best.
In Windows, for example, it’s pretty obvious what Notepad and WordPad do based on their names. But here I was stumped. K3B and GnomeBaker? (They’re disk-burning apps.) Kontact is obvious, but Kopete?
Granted, you could make the same argument about a lot of Window software. "Excel" doesn’t exactly scream "spreadsheet," nor does "Quicken" bring to mind "money manager."
But there are a lot more quirkily named apps in the Linux world, for one. For two, even if they have odd names, these Windows programs have been around so long that most people know what they do. Distros such as PCLinuxOS are trying to appeal to Windows users — to show them that Linux is just as good as Windows. And in most cases it is.
But it’s that one additional step toward true novice usability that’s missing. Installing four or five text editors for the sake of offering choice isn’t the answer. Pick the best of breed apps and offer those. Yes, you’d be making a judgement call, but that’s fine; that’s what end users expect.
Linux is so, so close to being a viable Windows replacement for novices. I’m looking forward to the day when it crosses the line.
Richard Chapman says:
Try removing some of those extra applications. The menu isn’t written is stone. It also sounds as though you’re saying PCLinuxOS is more of a Linux than Xubuntu because of its array of choices. Oh, you can toss GnomeBaker, K3B will do everything you need it to do quite nicely.
Now I know I’m dealing with your issues in detail when you’re describing the problems the general public will face. But all I’ve seen about the problems Linux will encounter when it’s time for the masses to adopt it were written by people well versed in the OS. These are all predictions, and from what I’ve seen of predictions it’s not whether they’re wrong or right, but simply how much they were wrong. Yes, too much choice will be a problem but I don’t agree that form-fitting Linux to the expectations of Joe Sixpack is a good idea.
Now about those choices in PCLinuxOS. PCLinuxOS has one of the smallest repositories of all the Linux distributions. In spite of that, they were one of the first to offer Google Earth and the only one where I can find a copy of the Metal4KDE window decoration.