Wild and crazy times for the development tree

[Mike A. Harris]

Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-03-20 at 17:29 -0500, Mike A. Harris wrote:
> 
>>Paul F. Johnson wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>But let's get a clear roadmap down this time, what features are
>>>>essential for the next cycle?
>>>
>>>
>>>A *much* reduced core size (5 CDs + rescue is getting a bit much) and
>>>large reduction in the overall memory overhead. I know FC is fantastic,
>>>but given you need 128Mb for a text only version and 512Mb for a desktop
>>>environment, it's becoming hard to justify to the powers that be that
>>>using Linux over WinXP is that good an option.
>>
>>Are you implying that the only reason one would choose Linux over
>>Windows XP, is because it has lower memory and system requirements?
> 
> No, not "the only reason", but one essential reason:
> 
> Linux's small memory footprint and it's free licensing had enabled
> people to use Linux on "recycled HW".

Absolutely.  A fraction of the entire userbase out there does indeed
choose linux due to it having generally lower hardware requirements than
other OS choices within their consideration.

And to various other users, hardware requirements are meaningless,
they choose their OS based on other factors, such as specific features
unique to the OS, or for ideolological reasons, or lower TCO, or any
of a number of other factors.

Generally lower hardware requirements is not on every single person's
radar when choosing an OS.  If everyone valued lower hardware
requirements higher than anything else, nobody out there would
be running any Microsoft product for years now.



-- 
Mike A. Harris  *  Open Source Advocate  *  http://mharris.ca
                       Proud Canadian.