My Suggestions

[wmrobins]

First, let me explain where I'm coming from. I'm a 50 year old engineer. The first computer I programmed used paddle switches and lights to program. I've evolved through, PDP 11s, Dec 20s, CPM, DOS, Windows 1.0 through XP and five or so flavors of Linux/Unix. Like many of you I spend some time fixing other peoples computer problems and advising them. So, my suggestions are not just for/from me but also for/from grandma and grandpa.

1. Provide a simple automatic “reconfigure” option if booting up brings you a console instead of the Kubuntu gui.

2. Lend some resources to Wine. There are a few “must have” killer programs that many people can't do without. One is Quicken. (And people don't want to switch to another linux equivalent. ) Some are unique to none computer hardware like the firmware update programs for MP3 players, cameras, GPSs. This is the only reason I still duel boot my laptop. Wine needs to work better.

3. Provide a place I where can pay for my Codecs. A lot of people would switch if they knew they were legally play their movies and MP3s.

4. This one is going to confuse you. Provide a pay for verified and validated version of Kubuntu. Corporations (and some people) consider anything free (or cheap) as dangerous. I think it comes from the fear of blowing an expensive project because you didn't pick the best (most expensive) option.

5. Fix the bugs,

[claydoh]

Re: My Suggestions

1) is sort of in the works (bulletproof X), already at least partially supported in Ubuntu. KDE's login manager does not yet support this

2)I can't really touch that one too much, as imo (as a sometimes user of wine) it is already gotten lots of support, and there are commercial apps like codeweavers that support the more complicated windows software like quicken. What makes wine work for one thing breaks another. Apps like Quicken require IE, which is terribly difficult to get running.

Kmymoney2 next version (still in development, but I compile and use it) will definitely be a major step towards being a good Quicken/Money replacement for home use. I used Quicken in wine until they dropped support for my version of it and wanted me to shell out yet another 60$ or whatever it was. The current stable Kmymoney2 has some rudimentary online banking support, but the latest devel version has much better support, and wizard driven setup.

Moneydance is another cross-platform alternative to Quicken

3) Ubuntu has this from a company called Fluendo. Unfortunately, Kubuntu uses a different sound subsystem (arts) from Ubuntu (gstreamer), so I am not sure if it works with Kubuntu

4) Not confusing at all. Red Hat, the granddadyy of business linux does exactly this. you can purchase support from Canonical if you wish, but in a free software environment, the concept of registration, validation, etc is considered a big evil. I came from a Distro (Lycoris) that used this method, and imo lost a lot of potential users from the negative press it generated. But perhaps a more visible or prominent support option would be a good idea. And the growing news and reports of Business and governments all over the word switching to FOSS should help show that it is now a viable option worth looking at.

5) This is always happening, but obviously each separate app and all their bugs are a huge pile. that is where the number of full time and paid coders (extremely minimal) and part time volunteers (most of them fit this description, even a lot of the 'major' apps are run and coded by so-called volunteers) comes in to play , unfortunately.