Ubuntu 10.10's installer looks rather nice

[Gilboa Davara]

On Mon, 2010-10-11 at 11:41 +0100, Richard W.M. Jones wrote:
> I installed and played with Ubuntu 10.10 over the weekend (in a VM),
> and I have to say that their installer is very smooth indeed.  It's
> starting to make anaconda look distinctly clunky.
> 
> Some of the things it does which are IMHO better:
> 
>  - starts disk formatting / copying / installing in parallel
>    with asking user questions
> 
>  - downloads updates in parallel too
> 
>  - uses IP geolocation to guess the user's timezone and keyboard
>    settings (it's been 100% correct for me each time)
> 
>  - suggests a username and hostname based on the user's real name
>    (Mac OS X's installer also does this -- it's a nice touch)
> 
> This is in contrast to anaconda (certainly from the live CD install)
> which seems to be a usability no-go area.
> 
> Thoughts?  Can we switch to their installer?
> 
> Rich.
> 

Comparing the Ubuntu 10.04 DVD installer (which I use a couple of weeks
ago) to Fedora 13 DVD installer is like comparing the Cessna to a Boeing
747.
Sure, both can accomplish the same task. Read: transporting people from
one airport to another, but lets see you try transporting 400 peoples
from London to NY using a Cessna... 

The same logic applies to the Ubuntu installer: As long as you require a
fairly basic -desktop- configuration (Read: No fancy storage, no LVM, no
fancy setup source [nfs, dvd, http], -very- basic encryption, standard
software set and repository selection, etc), the Ubuntu installer is a
great tool, but once you need something complex, you're screwed.

- Gilboa