[osol-mktg] Re: perceptions of OpenSolaris

[Patrick Finch]

When will NWAM integrate?  I don't disagree with you, but there is so 
much progress and it moves so rapidly - look at this review from February:
http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2007/02/02/closing-the-loop-on-sun-startup-essentials/
I guess he was using Solaris 10 u2.

Patrick



Stephen Lau wrote:
> I would rather wait for NWAM to integrate, as that's the big killer for
> me in terms of approachability.
> 
> Joe User: How do I configure wireless?
> Solaris Fan: Simple! Use wificonfig createprofile blah blah blah blah
> blah... or dladm blah blah blah blah blah, followed by ifconfig ath0
> plumb, then ifconfig ath0 auto-dhcp.
> Joe User: Whatever. I'll go back to Fedora & NetworkManager.
> 
> Once NWAM integrates, we would have a lot more parity for the desktop
> user.
> 
> cheers,
> steve
> 
> On Tue, Mar 13, 2007 at 12:37:38PM +0100, Patrick Finch wrote:
>> Sure, SX isn't KDE, people remember GNOME on Solaris as JDS, which is 
>> not a helpful name.  But Joe's point
>>
>> "It would be great if we can get some technical press to write an 
>> article on this topic. 'Is Solaris more approachable?' - would start 
>> some interesting debate in the open. Or, get some coverage on slashdot."
>>
>> is quite right.  It isn't as approachable as the most polished Linux 
>> distros, some things are still quite tricky (e.g. I have had problems 
>> configuring printers) and somethings are just not there (some 
>> multimedia, suspend/resume especially) but I think that people would be 
>> surprised that you can plug in your digital camera, or any USB disk, or 
>> a phone card, or that there's Wifi support.  And it's easy to forget 
>> just how far the desktop has come -I already take these things for 
>> granted and forget that people who tried SX even a year ago will not 
>> have had a similar experience.
>>
>> I don't think that people are going to use OpenSolaris because it's 
>> "almost as good a desktop as Suse", but they at least should not be put 
>> off from trying the things that make OpenSolaris special because they 
>> think it is not an approachable OS.
>>
>> I will see if we can find a journalist interested in doing a review. 
>> There were quite some stories about SX developer edition, but I don't 
>> think that any of the ones I read were by people who had actually booted 
>> it! (I could be wrong)
>>
>> Patrick
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Stephen Lau wrote:
>>> On Tue, Mar 13, 2007 at 08:12:24AM +0530, Joe G (Joseph George) wrote:
>>>> Yes, there is a perception that Solaris is not approachable.
>>>>
>>>> I personally have seen the look of amazement on the faces of folks who 
>>>> have tried the BeleniX liveCD. I have told many that they can get the 
>>>> same desktop if there were to install SX.
>>> ... and that would be misleading.
>>> (IIRC) Belenix uses either xfce or KDE, neither of which is available
>>> with a default SX install.
>>>
>>> -steve
>