Comment by ridruejo
3 days ago
I see a Linux distro as a collection of libraries that someone puts together following best practices and conventions (ie all config files go into /etc). The similarity with this project is that Microsoft has taken a collection of tools and best practices and put them together in an easy to install package
I find that analogy weak.
Picking a Linux distribution is a commitment, and if I want to change it out I have a lot of work to do, much of which is unwinding my own work that was distro dependent.
Changing out an agent setup is as easy as installing an IDE, and if I don’t like it I can go back easily. My work is not dependent on the setup - the value I get is transactional, and the quirks of each model or agent approach are not difficult to learn or live without.
All of which suggests that selling ease of use to someone like me will be pointless. I’m sure there are clueless F500 managers out there who might go for it. But a business model based on selling to people who don’t know anything isn’t very durable.
You may not be the target user for this project then and that’s fine! They are releasing this as a research project so a business model was not probably one of the key decision points.
Ah yes an easy to install package, totally the hallmark of your average Linux distro :)
Not sure if you are being serious or not. That was indeed the point of the very first Linux distros and why most people use them nowadays vs the alternative.
I started using Linux before there were distros (circa 1993) and it was not a pleasant experience compared to when Slackware came out