[CentOS] Troubles for an non-IT beginner

[Les Mikesell]

On 1/19/2011 10:43 AM, m.roth at 5-cent.us wrote:
>
>> The difference is that open source server software has been 'feature
>> complete' for ages and the standards processes that change client/server
>> interactions are very, very slow - so outdated versions of server
>> software is not a problem as long as bug/security fixes are made.
>> That's not true for desktop applications and environments.  If you don't
>> have something current you are missing the improvements that many
>> thousands of man-hours of work have made.  Personally, I use Windows at
> <snip>
> I'll disagree here: I've seen hardly any "improvements" in any of the
> (admittedly not a lot) of software I run. As a definition of this, let me
> note that in '95, PC Mag ran a review of word processors, and noted that
> 90% of the users (then) used only 10% of the features, and the other 10%
> of users who *did* use those features only used them about 10% of the
> time.

You are biased by having learned to live with the restrictions of old 
cruft.  At the very least you have to be able to exchange data files and 
view all common media files on a desktop.  What do you do when someone 
gives you a docx or xlsx file?

> The last "oh, I like this" feature I can remember was when firefox
> introduced tabs. On the other hand, a *lot* of "improvements" I find more
> and more objectionable, such as thunderbird trying *very* hard to look and
> act more and more like Lookout, er, Outlook, and I *LOATHE* the latest
> versions of Outlook.

Sorry, but Outlook 2003 and 2007 are huge improvements over earlier 
versions - and lacking tight integration between messaging and 
calendar/scheduling has been one of the places where free software 
really missed the boat.

And remember that firefox/openoffice are rare exceptions in RHEL/Centos 
in that they have had major-version updates since the distro release, 
even though they still are far behind 'current' now.  The rest of the 
distro is much older and doesn't do much of what people do with desktops 
today (subscribing to podcasts, media playing, serving media to other 
devices, etc.).

-- 
   Les Mikesell
     lesmikesell at gmail.com