Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9
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Pros:
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Has many of the copyrighted CODECs and such needed for media players, nothing more to hunt and install
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Cons:
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I'm a newbie... still some learning to do, so can't comment much on this, though some will say what I consider pros a con because it's not 100% open source
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This is the most ready for mainstream use Linux distro I've tried (Mint 7.0, "Gloria"). I say that mainly because I don't have to hunt down and load CODECs to play music and video -- it's ready to go. The menu (equivalent to the "start" menu in XP) is a bit different (than XP), but real easy to navigate and intuitional once you start using it. I'm a new Linux user, played with a couple of the distros geared toward people transitioning from Windows -- MEPIS and Linspire mostly. Mint seems to be much more polished than the others. It's just familiar enough not to be intimidating, yet different enough to feel "fresh". I haven't used any Linux distro much, but the install went nice and easy on my old Athlon w/1GB RAM (623.5 MB available with just the system loaded) box. I'm going to stick with this one!
Mint has a universal edition that deletes all the copyrighted CODECs, everything that's not open source, for those who have an aversion to anything that's not open source. Many in the Linux community do, which to me hurts the mainstream acceptance. When Joe average can walk into Wal-Mart and buy software for his Linux box, it will be more accepted. Unfortunately that's contrary to what most of the Linux community wants. Open source is great for those who can program, but most users are just that -- USERS! I remember selling BASIC programs back in the home computer days. They were basically open source, all you had to do was list the code, but still sold for a reasonable sum. Would be nice if some of the Linux programs were boxed and packaged, then made available in stores for a reasonable fee. I know that's contrary to what most current Linux users want (I probably got a few sneers and curled lips at that comment!), but it's the assurance and security (I know it's false security!) that Joe Average User wants/needs.
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