OS X Is No Longer On My Main System, But I Already Have Regrets

[russofris]

How can you not want to do at least a preliminary configuration to the tool that you want to use?! Computers are complicated machines, they are not something like a hammer (hell, even hammers come in a variety of sizes and shapes). You're doing it wrong.

I think there's an invisible/magical/philosophical line that gets crossed somewhere. When I buy/rent/lease a car, I'm willing adjust the seat, mirrors, and wheel hight. I'd rather not have to choose between linear and logarithmic throttles, clutch height, steering gears, suspension mode, etc. I've done that in my rally days, and have a fair grasp of the fundamentals, but these days I just want to get my kids to/from school safely and quietly. I think it's nice that these options are available (and consolidated now that everything is drive by wire), but have no interest in them beyond having a sane default set and the options hidden from view.

Ubuntu 14.04 just gave me the option of encrypting my home dir. At the risk of sounding like an ass who begins sentences with the word "actually", I think that the installer should be smart enough to determine whether some form of whole-disk encryption is already in use, and based its default on that, then hide the option in an advanced menu. It's like giving someone the option of a mechanical choke when they've already selected electronic fuel injection.

[Cyber Killer]

I think there's an invisible/magical/philosophical line that gets crossed somewhere. When I buy/rent/lease a car, I'm willing adjust the seat, mirrors, and wheel hight. I'd rather not have to choose between linear and logarithmic throttles, clutch height, steering gears, suspension mode, etc. I've done that in my rally days, and have a fair grasp of the fundamentals, but these days I just want to get my kids to/from school safely and quietly. I think it's nice that these options are available (and consolidated now that everything is drive by wire), but have no interest in them beyond having a sane default set and the options hidden from view.

Ubuntu 14.04 just gave me the option of encrypting my home dir. At the risk of sounding like an ass who begins sentences with the word "actually", I think that the installer should be smart enough to determine whether some form of whole-disk encryption is already in use, and based its default on that, then hide the option in an advanced menu. It's like giving someone the option of a mechanical choke when they've already selected electronic fuel injection.

OK, since we are stuck with the car comparison anyway, let's take this from a different angle - installing a distro by yourself is similar to building your own car. If you'd buy a (properly) preinstalled Linux machine then the user config would be things like choosing your wallpaper and desktop widgets. Comparing the amount of work it takes to get a usable system starting with an install disk between windows and GNU, I say it's easier&faster to setup a working GNU system than windows.

BTW: OpenSUSE detects already setup disk encryption during install and gives an option to use that.