Services

[Paul W. Frields]

On Wed, 2003-10-15 at 16:14, Joakim Ryden wrote:
> On Wednesday 15 October 2003 12:59 pm, Martin Stricker wrote:
> [...]
> > I don't like to install anything that I don't really need - which is why
> > I keep a very detailed kickstart file around... ;-)) Anyone who dislikes
> > unnecessary software and services usually nows how to disable/uninstall
> > them. It is not always easy to decide what software should be
> > installed/started by default, but I think Red Hat does a good job here.
> 
> I think the opposite is true as well. Think about the average user who doesn't 
> want a lot of cruft on his system--is he then to go into advanced package 
> selection mode and deselect stuff he has no clue about? Or start poking 
> around removing packages after installation breaking all sorts of things? 
> This is sort of hard because I think it's generally pretty much equally 
> difficult to know what to install versus what not to install.
> 
> I definitely see the point of "better safe than sorry so let's install more 
> than less" but I'm not sure I agree with it.

The "average user," in a global sense, is likely not (yet) using Linux.
Those that do, e.g. my wife, generally will lend their trust to the
default choices as being good ones, and will typically not mess with
them. This "average user" is not concerned with the cruft issue, which
is purely a geek concern -- s/he is concerned with operability,
interconnectivity and feature richness. This user doesn't want to see
messages popping up at every turn telling her/him that a feature is not
available.

The Linux user concerned with cruft is more of a power user, and given
the DIY nature of Linux, should be willing to undertake a bit of study
to figure out what can stand removal/installation and how to do it
properly. I would opine that you can't eat your cake and have it too, to
more correctly state the idiom -- those concerned with cruft are
probably better off with Slackware, Gentoo, or even Debian. Red Hat's
product has historically been more oriented toward "bringing people into
the fold."

It seems to me that given the delicate balancing act required between
giving features to the novice, and reducing cruft for the anal-retentive
geeks among us (and I'll count myself among them happily), the novices
should win out. There are plenty of experts and sources of information
available to help intrepid anti-crufters defeat their foe.

-- 
Paul W. Frields, RHCE