[Ubuntu-BD] FOSS & Ubuntu in Bangladesh

[Shabab Mustafa]

Forgot to give the LinuxMint link: http://linuxmint.com/
---
Shabab Mustafa
Liaison Person
Ubuntu Bangladesh
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Shabab


On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 11:34 PM, Shabab Mustafa <shabab at linux.org.bd>wrote:

> @ Shumon,
>
> I think you can try Linux Mint ( ) than Kubuntu. KDE is a bit advanced
> thing. You may not find it as user friendly as you are looking for.
>
> I completely agree with you about the Teaching/Training part. Till now the
> learning material / resources that are available are very much scattered and
> do not have a standard curriculum. Most of the tutorials were written
> discretely and aren't very semantic. We have a lot of scope to work on that.
>
>
> In my opinion, the major reasons about being confused about names or
> finding a user interface not friendly etc. comes from the lack of basic
> knowledges. In most of the cases applications have standardized names like
> 'media player', 'web browser', 'Image Editor' etc. If one can recognize
> 'Photoshop' but cannot understand what an 'image Editor/ manipulator' does,
> it is purely nothing but lack of knowledge.
>
>
> ---
> Shabab Mustafa
> Liaison Person
> Ubuntu Bangladesh
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Shabab
>
>
> On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 9:44 PM, Shumon <shumon.jahan at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks all. I'll try to summarize/organize for our future reference. I'll
>> comment using "ME" per issue as needed.
>>
>> 1. Linux options for Windows GUI
>> a) Ylmf OS http://ylfm.org/en
>> b) Linux XP http://linux-xp.com/
>> c) Windows & look-alikes http://goo.gl/Zxstz
>> d) Kubuntu http://www.kubuntu.org/
>> e) FVWM http://www.fvwm.org/
>> ME: I'm leaning toward Kubuntu but which one is best for XP user with
>> lesser
>> multimedia, plug/play issues & has virtual space to run Windows software?
>>
>> 2. Unpopularity
>> ME: Even if it's not popular among the Linux community, it's no indicator
>> of
>> how it'll hold for the general population who may not know about this or
>> may
>> not know how to use it.
>>
>> 3. Support
>> a) ME: Organized support group is certainly a challenge at this time. But
>> let's at least take those primary steps we can to create that interest
>> among
>> general users. Any market has a spectrum of participants. Perhaps we won't
>> capture the other end of the spectrum but at least some in the middle or
>> closer than the middle will get interested. No?
>> b) Websites: http://www.linux.org.bd/ http://www.ubuntu-bd.org/ will be
>> up
>> in June/soon.
>> ME: Great!
>>
>> 4. Conversion
>> a) ME: Can we have a screen capture video tutorial displaying the benefits
>> of Ubuntu? This can be done easily with a freeware (only know of a windows
>> app) CamStudio.
>> b) ME: A series of such videos in Bangla would be simply wonderful. I can
>> help in production but my only handicap at this time is Windows :(
>>
>> 5. OpenOffice impractical
>> a) ME: Have to agree with Jewel. I use OpenOffice and maintain hundreds of
>> old .doc/.xls files as well. Most people don't utilize the thousands of
>> features in any of the softwares they use. I'd venture to say perhaps
>> 20-30
>> features at most. So OpenOffice is a practical option for MOST MSOffice
>> users.
>>
>> 6. Adoption: Memorization vs. Learning
>> ME: It's not exactly memorization but rather an effect of the power of
>> semiotics. Symbols make us think/behave/create expectations in a certain
>> way
>> without us being aware of it and it's very difficult to break that pattern
>> oneself, hence we need good teachers to help us. So, we can't simply blame
>> the people and instead provide them with good/efficient
>> teachers/tutorials.
>>
>> 7. OS terminlogy standard
>> ME: I understand what Jewel means. Using "Open-Excel" is a good idea. The
>> problem is copyright/trademark issues of course. But I think he means
>> having
>> similar naming conventions for similar functions. I am somewhat a dry
>> person
>> so I want functional names to things and can do without catchy names that
>> marketers love for their branding. I'd much rather have similar names for
>> similar functions so that I can make the connections and know my options
>> easily.
>>
>> 8. The problem of choice.
>> ME: Again agree with Jewel. Thousands of choice is not always good... of
>> course US consumer culture would say otherwise. Sometimes such degree of
>> choices are there to confuse and misinform. It can be just as bad as 1
>> choice. Here's someone who can explain it better than I ever can.
>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6XEQIsCoM and same at
>> http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
>>
>> 9. Overall comment.
>> ME: Guys, most of us are at least more technical than the general
>> population
>> but that doesn't mean we have to take every single word literally. Let's
>> try
>> to be sympathetic toward what the person is trying to communicate rather
>> than the particular words they are using.
>>
>> Shumon
>> --
>> Ubuntu Bangladesh
>> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bd
>>
>
>