Interesting Article - "Ubuntu made me quit college!!"

[Paul Gallaway]

Some comments/opinions on the discussion so far. These are my opinions
from my experience so far.

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 12:13 PM, Andrew Mathenge <mathenge at gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]

> The same question applies on the other side. Windows users are asking
> themselves, if I have everything I need in Windows, why would I bother
> switching to Linux? Why? After all, I have the money to pay for a
> decent Windows machine and every vendor under the sun makes Windows
> compatible software. So why bother?

If a user has everything he/she needs then it is not in his/her
interest to switch. Unless you are willing to install and support
them, your only other option is to educate them. There are many
reasons NOT to install linux (see below)

> The "free" price tag doesn't cut it.

Here's a thought that people don't talk about. For many people,
Windows *is* free. Everyone seems to know someone who can get them a
'copy'. Sure it comes loaded with most pre-fab computers available but
I'm sure there are many computers out there that came with XP home
running XP pro, or Vista and now running XP pro and on. It's hard to
show the freedom of Linux to someone who thinks Windows is also 'free'
(well, it came on his/her PC, right?).

My way around this is that I will only offer support friends/family
that use licensed software. They pay for their licenses, use linux, or
they don't get my help.

[snip]

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 3:04 PM, Eric Cyr <1ballistic1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> This is where I'd really like to see an intelligent discussion between
> mac/linux/windows fans (all 3) without the usual
> extremism/fanboyism/trolling....It would be interesting to hear legitimate
> arguments for each side.

I've worked with Windows, Linux and Mac. Like many people my age I
started computing with DOS/Windows 3.1 when I was ~6 or 7. Since that
time I've been the 'computer guy' for my family. I found from my own
experience that going from Windows to Mac would be no more or less
difficult than going from Windows to Linux. It's a different way of
doing things. Mac OSX and Linux are more alike than either is to
Windows. My decision to switch to Linux was part political, part
financial, and part educational. My first experience was with Debian
back in 1999 with the encouragement/assisstance from a friend. It was
a rocky road, I ended up getting most things working but found I was
still booting into Windows 99% of the time. In the end linux won me
over.

Using Linux in the late 90's was very different than using it today.
Back then if you had an unsupported piece of hardware you pretty much
knew it wasn't going to work. If you ran Linux you went of your way to
buy good, well supported hardware. These days most hardware (save
bleeding edge, some wireless cards etc) will work out of the box. If
it didn't then people wouldn't be surprised when they find hardware
configurations with quirks. I'd say that _most_ people on most
hardware would be alright (sorry, 'most' isn't very scientific of me
is it?). These are the people who have an ISP email account, laugh at
annoying forwarded emails, type letters, read some web pages, and play
solitaire or minesweeper.

My Mac experience has been alright. Usually it will 'just work' but
when it doesn't it's just as big a pain to fix as

Unfortunately different requirements still necessitate a different OS.
Someone pointed out CAD software as being a very good reason to run
Windows. A lot of scientific models in my line of work require Windows
(for the pretty GUI's) while there are many other models in other
businesses that will require Linux/Unix. Most design/graphics people
at my work have a Windows machine and Mac machine and split time
between the two depending on the task at the time (yes, I know about
virtual machines, not sure my IT department does or they may just not
be interested in supporting it). Another example would be someone
building a PC to primarily play games; Windows is still the best
choice.

On Tue, Jan 20, 2009 at 6:46 PM, Emma Jane Hogbin <emmajane at ubuntu.com> wrote:
[snip]
> For people who need to surf the Web, write a few essays, and send email
> there really is no reason to be dependent on any OS.

Yes!

On Wed, Jan 21, 2009 at 8:45 AM, John Gill <swfiua at gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Ironically, you will see linux on netbooks being described as a "beginner"
> operating system -- but if you're an "expert" you'll want XP.

In my experience this is true. People that 'get' how Windows works, or
how it is suppose to work, have a more difficult time adjusting to the
differences between Linux and Windows. These are the so called power
users. They have expectations for where settings should be, what
programs they want to use and can probably setup an internet
connection with out reading the ISP directions (sorry for the massive
generalization, this is a summarization of my experience).

Someone who isn't comfortable with a computer to begin with (like my
mother...), someone who knows they need a web browser to go on the
Internet, a word processor to type letters and directory called
'games' folder on the desktop to load up Solitaire or Frozen Bubble.
These people don't miss the Control Panel applets, Internet Explorer
or MS Word because they don't know the difference between IE and
FireFox.

> However, giving someone a linux pc and no help is a recipe for disaster.
> When you are starting from zero linux knowledge with no-one to help you,
> then yes, the curve is steep.   It does seem that this student got the help
> needed in the end and is able to use the machine to do what is needed.

Getting a linux PC infront of someones eyes is half the battle. Dell
is doing a small part by making some machine configurations available,
but much of it is still word of mouth. People like the readers of this
list telling friends and family. Getting people who don't need/want to
think about it are the easiest targets. Normally these people will
take whatever FutureShop has, or whatever Dell will sell them as long
as it is within the price limit they are willing to spend. However, if
you offer someone to try to save a few bucks by getting an older
machine running better, they will, again in my limited experience, be
grateful.

If you're helping a friend/family member with Linux install a LTS
version, set the updates to accept security updates only, and leave
them be. They will be fine! Of course, expect that at some point they
may get curious, break something and then they will need *some* help.
Everyone has to start somewhere! If it's family or a friend don't
abandon them!

-- 
~pAul.

        all good things. all in good time.