[CentOS] CentOS for non-tech user

[Florin Andrei]

Anne Wilson wrote:
> I'm thinking of giving CentOS to a non-tech user for her new desktop.  He 
> needs are small.  She has been used to Mozilla for both mail and browsing, so 
> equivalents there are not a problem.  She needs grip and lame, for her mp3s - 
> again no problem.

Desktop, non-techie - use Ubuntu instead.

I'm a big CentOS fan, I joined even the Facebook group (lol), but its 
place is on the server or, perhaps, on a workstation for a power user 
(or for things like running scientific apps on the desktop). If you're a 
PhD running quantum theory equations with Mathematica on your Xeon 
multicore workstation, I can very well see why you would prefer CentOS, 
or even Red Hat Enterprise proper.

But non-tech persons, they will be much more comfortable with Ubuntu. 
Much, much more comfortable. It will do more things for them, they may 
even be able to tinker with it, in a small way. Your support calls will 
be much reduced. ;-)
CentOS (any RHE derivative, basically) is a less good choice for this 
particular situation.

Heck, I consider myself very knowledgeable (been using Linux since 
Slackware came on a stack of floppies and I had it dual-boot with a 
novelty OS called Windows 95; made my own distribution once from 
scratch; been using Red Hat nearly since the beginning) and I still 
don't run CentOS on my desktop - I use Ubuntu instead. (actually, as I'm 
getting more and more involved with higher-end-ish digital photo and 
digital video processing, I find myself booting Vista a lot more often 
on my home PC - it's a long story and yes I am aware of all the 
wonderful Linux video apps)

-- 
Florin Andrei

http://florin.myip.org/