[indiana-discuss] Indiana is the wrong development

[Stephen Lau]

So don't use whatever Indiana produces.  That's the beauty of open 
source.  You don't pay for it, you don't use it.

-steve

Gueven Bay wrote:
> Hello dear community,
> 
> In my opinion Indiana is the wrong direction of development. All those "easy
> distributions" - with which I mean also the "easy distros" of GNU/Linux but I will
> concentrate here on Solaris-land - will not get to the goal of secure, stable
> infrastructures and services.
> I want to describe the reasons here.
> 
> The original Solaris infrastructures had always the reputation of stability,
> security and reliability. This was not because of bullshitbingo or marketing
> material but because of the knowing, qualified users.
> 
> What are knowing, qualified users? For an enduser we can say, that he knows
> and understands his system from an eagle view. That there is a console, that there
> is a shell, a display manager, an X server and so on. Even if he doesn't understands
> how they are working, he understands that there is a pile of services and their respective
> configuration (files) which he can start and stop and that there is help in form of
> docu. Because of this he can "form" his (virtual) workplace and can run it in
> stable manner.
> 
> Such users - which include admins and developers who are knowing users which
> specialised further - built the reputation of stable, secure and reliable Solaris
> infrastructures.
> 
> But the "easy distros" are going to the wrong direction : They want to tell the user
> that the complex machine under his table is as easy as a video recorder - or maybe
> as easy as a toaster -.
> This is wrong in two ways:
> 1) The "easy distros" are building a false assumption. A PC is much more complex then
> a video recorder.
> 2) From this false assumption the users of these "easy distros" become more and more
> lazy.
> 
> Above I wrote that in my critic I also see the "easy distros" of GNU/Linux. Please,
> go to the forums of these distros and read the questions of their users. In the last
> consequence these users want to do lesser and lesser work, they want that their live CD
> boots, reads their minds and automagically start the music files they want to listen now.
> But no distro, no software, no network/infrastructure can meet these requirements, no
> PC can be so easy to use. 
> 
> I don't want such a development for (Open)Solaris - not for the original version and
> not for the free software version -.
> 
> There is one development in the internet today and that is "unsecurity". More and more
> threats from more and more classes of programs target the users of most classes
> of computer systems. But there is still a group of users who can still laugh about these
> threats: The users of Unix-like operating systems. They can laugh because they are knowing
> and qualified users.
> The group of the most lazy users - the users of the operating system with the biggest
> market share - had stopped laughing a long time ago. Soon the next lesser lazy user group
> - the users of an operating system for media professionals - will stop laughing.
> I want that the OpenSolaris uses can still laugh in 5 years.
> 
> 
> OpenSolaris started as a sourcebased distro because in fact in the beginning of a
> free software career there should be the source. This fact now we can use to grow
> knowing and qualified users from the beginning.
> 
> OpenSolaris needs now these knowing users because it is in the beginng of its FreeSW
> career where much testing and discussions and development is needed.
> 
> For this development of knowing users Indiana should be an infrastructure
> consisting of:
> A) A website tour of several webpages where every page explains the function of a
> specific consolidation and where the user gets a link/button/whatever to download
> this specific consolidation until the user knows the function of every consolidation and
> has everyone of them on his harddisk.
> B) A script or a program - it is important that this can run on the minimal Solaris system
> - which again explains the consolidation then unpacks it then build the binaries/docus and
> so on whereby every step of the building process is explained.
> C) A Belenix distro without all the bling-bling which:
> 1) starts a minimal environment
> 2) explains (in the /etc/issue or something like that) how the user can slice/partition his
> disk to make a free workplace
> 3) Links to the above mentioned website tour.
> 4) Wished luck and fun for building the own OpenSolaris.
> 5) And at last starts the interactive training and build script.
> 
> This is a good way to build knowing and qualified users who will thank you by operating
> high quality infrastructures - may it be a home network, may it be a scientific network -
> and good contributions in the community for the future development of OpenSolaris.
> And this will support the good reputation of Solaris networks. Is there a better way of
> marketing?
> 
> (I know that the infrastructure above has many points to make finer and more polished but
> it has the full skeleton I think to build upon.)
> 
> 
> 
> best regards
> Gueven
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-- 
stephen lau // stevel at sun.com | 650.786.0845 | http://whacked.net
opensolaris // solaris kernel development