John wrote:

The average computer user often doesn't know what to type in a search engine because they don't know the terms of what to look for. How many computer users would search for "realtek HD audio driver Linux" to fix their sound card, or know that they have an nvidia video card. Many of them say they have a "60GB of ram" in their system, not understanding that is likely referring to their hard drive. Let alone ask them whether it's IDE, scsi, iscsi, sata, sas, etc. There is a minimal understanding of the hardware required before you can truely install linux and have everything working.

How about we talk about partitioning? Most average users would go "what?". Try and describe to them how you can have 4 primary partitons, or make extended partitions if you want more. Try explaining what swap space is for, then move from that to relating it to how those hidden files they never knew existed on Windows existed on their drive. Then talk about the kernel, the boot loader, X windows, window managers, move into startup scripts, updates through various utilities like yum, apt, up2date, etc. How about managability. Answer the "My system is running slow..." statement to an average user and get blank stares. Many Linux users would offer the same blank look and not be able to tell you that you could look at top, vmstat, sar, ps, free, or others to troubleshoot why it's slow. Then if they find the processes, it could be anything and would take a bit of experience in such things to trouble shoot.

Linux is not without flaws. It is more complicated than windows is. Things require knowing what they are before you can work with them. Linux still remains for the home user, a lot of work for something they can pay for and have working out of the box. Regardless of what people think of Windows, they make their money because it does work for the average user and was designed for them. The same thing goes for Apple with OS X. It looks good, is functional, doesn't require much thought to point and click or understanding of what is under the covers. A lot of Mac users I know don't use Windows or Linux, aren't technical and know how to load office, run photoshop, browse the web, send email, and share their images all without fiddling with the OS.

It's like getting all the parts for a new TV mostly assembled, having to reroute your AV cables, point and shoot for satellite signal and spend time talking to friends who know more about home entertainment systems to suggest help before you can veg out to your favorite show. Thats why most just pay others to do everything but point the remote and click the buttons.

If you want more acceptance of Linux, then pictures, guides, step by step, key by key instructions that are intuitive for all things about the system is needed. The user needs to be able to say, "I want to get online with my laptop" and not have to look for madwifi drivers, and fiddle with the ath0 interface to get it up.

-----Original Message-----
From: feba thatl
Sent: Jun 22, 2007 6:18 PM
To: kclug@kclug.org
Subject: Re: The key to getting more Windows users to switch to
Linux | Hardware 2.0 | ZDNet.com

How many average users are going to know to type "linux benefits OR
advantages" though? The average person doesn't realize the
shortcomings of computers, especially when they still get results
for questions (or even search engines like Jeeves ENCOURAGING them
to...)

In regards to the article, I don't think this is "THE KEY!", but
it's one more thing that microsoft has going for them- people know
about it. heck, if some people would donate computers to schools on
the requirement that they only run linux and FOSS, even ten schools,
that could get thousands of kids using linux, and wanting to take it
and use it at home.  50 computers per school (enough for one large
lab or two normal sized labs), assuming 500$ each would only be a
quarter of a million or so for every ten schools. If you consider
the life of a computer in an environment where they hardly ever need
upgrades (which the basic Code/Write Essay/Do Research schools do
can be done easily on a decade old computer), and you consider
they're probably getting about 300 new students a year, that could
easily be 30,000 kids exposed to linux in a day-to-day environment,
and curiosity could easily lead at least 1/20th (one kid in every
class, on average) to adopt linux, that's 1,500 new linux fans.
Should come out to be about 170$ for each of those 1,500- and then
you've also educated the 30,000 about linux, so they're more likely
to pick it up later, or at least know how to use it and be more
likely to embrace it.

Of course, I just pulled those numbers out of a hat, but 170$
doesn't seem too bad to get new users- it would probably even be
good business for a company like Linspire.

On 6/22/07, *Billy Crook* <billycrook@gmail.com
<mailto:billycrook@gmail.com>> wrote:

    The author needs to learn how search engines work.  You can't
    converse with them like a person.  "Why choose linux?" is not a
    smart query.  Maybe "linux benefits OR advantages". 
    Furthermore, the question is not why one would choose linux, but
    why one would choose windows.  Especially when it is so
    obviously inferior.

    And the last thing a newbie needs is a comparison of distros
    unless that comparison clearly puts one above all others.  Too
    much choice is bad for most people.  Take for example the
    windows market.  There are varying degrees of "Home" and
    "business".  A home user might want home, but maybe he thinks he
    wants something a little more.  "business" sounds professional,
    lets get that, but wait, does that mean it will miss the fun
    things?  But if he buys "home", will he miss the professional
    things?  Too much choice is a recepie for confusion and
    frustration.  That's why microsoft has "Ultimate".  With a name
    like that, Gladys in accounting can feel like she's "getting
    everything". 

    The problem is linux doesn't have tiers, so it has no top tier. 
    Until it does, sheeple won't know what they're supposed to think
    they want. [sic]  Until it does, I'm handing out Ubuntu discs. 
    When one of those doesn't boot right, they get Fedora.

    On 6/22/07, *Julie* < betelgeuse67stang@yahoo.com
    <mailto:betelgeuse67stang@yahoo.com>> wrote:

        http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=519

        Some /interesting/ points can be found in this article. The
        msg threads can be either quite amusing or exasperating, at
        least to a point. If you have a zdnet account I hope you
        chime in. If you don't have an account, there's no big deal
        in making one. <wink>

        ENJOY!
        Julie @};-

I've had my Mom using Ubuntu for about 3 years now. She didn't need to know much other than: "It doesn't get viruses", "You don't have to run defrag", and "click here to do this".