Posted on Sunday 25th of March 2007 at 03:18 in Linux

Why the Linux distro reviews are the way they are

The other day I revisted PCLinuxOS 2007 beta 2 for more in depth look at the functionality to take into consideration my new intentions on reviewing distros. This meant looking at the system from the point of view of a new user, playing some media, networking to my current in-house network and writing (and editing) the review from within the test environment.

A reader then questioned whether this review was actually of any use to anyone, so I feel compelled to justify myself and answer a few questions in an entirely new post

Frank ’viperteq’ Young stated that " I don’t think that this has been a realistic review of a Linux OS." and claimed that the majority of Linux users are 18-35 because the 35+ market don't change operating systems. Wrong my friend. I've been contacted by many users who fall above the 35 mark and had questions regarding moving from Windows - don't forget that this age of technology is breaking the barriers that people once believed. Now it's rather common for the 60+ market to be very profficient at IT related tasks so I'd have to say that limiting Linux users down to a potential 18-35 window isn't terribly accurate.

He continued to explain that " the majority of users that fall between 18 and 35 will more than likely be laptop users than desktop users. And laptops are where most Linux distros fall into problems." which possibly holds more truth than the last statement - but not by much. On what grounds do 18-35's use notebooks more? Of my circle of friends and their families (clearly spanning many generations) all have desktops (and a few laptops, but primarily desktops). The "older" generation tend to have desktops because they're cheaper to purchase and "techie" users tend to have desktops for power and customisability. I'd agree that the 18-35 market will use notebooks more than the other age brackets but I don't agree that laptops are more popular than desktops.

However, I do agree that I should focus on notebook installtion - and if Frank had read some of my previous posts he'd know that I'm still in "negotiations" for finding a Windows-free notebook from which I can review future distros.

Some closing points involving my ability were raised. Frank stated "When offering a review of something, you have to in depth and touch on every aspect of using the subject as if you are completely nullus to whatever that subject is. The two points that you touched on seem easy to you BECAUSE IT IS EASY TO YOU." and I should defend this, I suck at terminal commands and I'm not an advanced Linux user. Odd maybe considering I focus on the topic a lot, but I look at the topic from a Windows point of view and how easy a migration from one system to another would be. I've been using Windows since I had 3.1 installed on a 486 and I've been through 3.1, 95, 98, 98se and XP and it wasn't until 2005 that I even looked at Linux seriously. So to say that I find these tasks easy because they're easy to an advanced Linux user like me is a redundant statement (although you weren't to know). I'm not brilliant at command line stuff (I normally need a tutorial or two) but I am a developer and a "techie" of sorts so I understand how stuff works. But I'm not by any stretch of the imagination an advanced user - I have just tried quite a few different distros.

I do the reviews the way I do because I'm a native Windows user with an understanding of Linux and the surrounding community. Therefore I review distros and express opinions based on how easily I think others could move from XP (what I'm used to) to the review system.

Thanks for the feedback though Frank, it's stuff like this that helps me further understand what readers are thinking and how best I can tailer the reviews. I am looking into obtaining a notebook to do the reviews on but funding is tight and I can't justify that outlay just yet. If anyone wants to comment on how they think the reviews could be improved please let me know - I read every email and each comment so your voice will be heard.

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