LSB compatible Samba ?

[Steve Langasek]

On Mon, 2 Jul 2001, Jeremy Allison wrote:

> Steve Langasek wrote:

> > Ah... it's unforgivable to be unwilling to abandon a technically-superior
> > system that has been in use for almost as long as (if not longer than) rpm has
> > been in existence?

> <IRONY FILTER>
> Yeah, that's right - keep those Giraffes burning (with
> apologies to Salvador Dali :-). End users like my mum
> *really* care about stuff like that. After all, that's
> *much* more important than being able to install end-user
> applications on a Linux system isn't it.....

But there are Linux users around who *don't* care about Linux's penetration
of the desktop market and *do* care about the quality of the packaging system.
Debian, of course, has a much higher than average percentage of these people.
And don't they have the right?  Isn't the "Linux revolution"<tm> about freedom
-- including the freedom to be a technology hermit?  Or have we as users given
that up now in order to get a bigger piece of the desktop?

> That's why Linux is *so* dominent on end users desktops,
> because end users really care about having multiple packaging
> formats so they can argue about their technical superiority.
> That's much more important than having lots of third party
> apps, all of which seamlessly install.

> After all, if they want applications, then "let them use
> Windows" (with apologies to Marie Antionette :-) :-).

So how much freedom and technical superiority are all Linux users expected to
give up in order to accomodate the desire to make the OS appealing to
end-users?  And if we sacrifice freedom and technical superiority, what's left
that makes Linux different from Windows?

I understand and sympathize with the desire expressed by many who work for
Linux vendors that Linux be able to take over the desktop market as soon as
possible.  But if that comes at the expense of the very things that make Linux
a worthwhile proposition for the users, then I'm ok with seeing the desktop
market grow at a slower pace.

Steve Langasek
postmodern programmer