[clug] Why switch to Linux?

[Chris Smart]

Robin Shannon wrote:
[snip]
> 
> Sure, it might sometimes, but other times (espessialy with non-free
> drivers) you have to play around after the install. You also need to
> get various non-free codecs etc after the install (depending on the
> distro). These can both be quite daunting tasks for absolute newbies.

True. On the site we are promoting free software. "Use Linux because it 
is free (as in freedom) and open source", and "you can only trust free 
software", etc. If we are using non-free video drivers / codecs then the 
system is no longer free and can no-longer be trusted. Is this hypocritical?

People can use Linux without their non-free video driver, but this does 
warrant some further looking into. Perhaps we need another section on 
the site, "Issues with Linux"? This section could discuss things like 
lack of full Microsoft Office compatibility, non-free drivers, codecs 
etc, things where Linux is still lagging behind? I do like the up front 
approach but don't want people to be scared off needlessly.

-c