Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Is GWN dead?

[Alan McKinnon <alan.mckinnon@gmail.com>]

On Thursday 17 January 2008, Thufir wrote:
> On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:33:32 +0000, Qian Qiao wrote:
> > What extra do you archieve if you install your Gentoo from a Gentoo
> > LiveCD instead of a Knoppix CD? None!
> >
> > Stop binding you mind to the concept that "I have to install a
> > Gentoo from a Gentoo CD", it's not true, start looking at a broader
> > perspective.
>
> I don't think anyone's making that argument.  What I'm asking, at
> least, is why Gentoo prides itself on having one of the steepest
> learning curves.

Because it's a source-based distro.

And that one simple fact changes EVERYTHING.

Now think this through - you have a source based distro where everything 
is built locally. What does it take to boot strap such a system 
install? What do you need to provide? What tools must be available? How 
will they be made available? Then the killer question:

What does the user need to know to be able to do this?

Doesn't matter how you spin it, we don't have a binary distro and what 
works there probably doesn't work here. We have to use techniques that 
actually work here, and catering for every possible user type, a la 
Mandriva, is simply not going to work.

If a gentoo LiveCD is such a good idea, it would have been done 
successfully and correctly. It was tried, it didn't work out. Now 
analyze why it didn't work out and be willing to accept while doing 
this that perhaps your own wishes are not viable.

> Let's turn this around: if Gentoo were to attract a larger user base
> I posit that this would attract more developers.

Who says Gentoo does not already have a large user base consisting of 
exactly the kind of users that are ideal for Gentoo? It has not been 
established that this is not the case.

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan dot mckinnon at gmail dot com
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