[NTLUG:Discuss] Sorta OT: dvd

[Chris Cox]

Steve Baker wrote:
> Greg Edwards wrote:
> 
>> I don't get it either ;(  My couch and TV are much better than a 19" 
>> monitor and straight back chair.  The other pieve than I'm getting is 
>> the idea that I have to add a DVD player to install software, what's 
>> with that?
> 
> 
> For SuSE 9.2, you have your choice of shoveling five or six CD's into
> the thing (which requires you to sit next to the machine for several
> hours) - or putting in the DVD-ROM and getting on with your life while
> it installs.  DVD drives are getting to be nearly as cheap as CD drives,
> because in the end, they are almost identical in terms of components
> and parts count.  It's just the natural evolution of the format.
> 

Yep.. just like you can almost assume that you will need broadband
internet access.  Think about a Windows user in particular where
their McAfee/Norton wants to update all the time and Windows Update
is wanting to download hundreds of megabytes.... a real pain on
a modem.

Windows has moved to DVD (their preferred format for MSDN users), Sun
does DVD for Solaris, SUSE has been doing DVD since version 6.x,
Red Hat did DVD for their last round... if I have a gripe on this,
it's that Red Hat and SUSE don't provide DVD downloads or media
for their enterprise level products (not even for us paying customers).
Granted, Solaris doesn't either... so I guess that's a universal
problem.

I always order my new servers with a DVD now... and many suppliers
are shipping DVD units by default now (but I do try to make sure!).