[Glastonbury] Sedgemoor IT Cluster

[info at wccl.co.uk]

Tim >> people who are used to using Windows[0] need a lot of retraining to
> use Linux. This can involve massive loss of productivity and yes, people
> are also scared of change.

My experience after using Win for years was that it was easy to change to 
Linux and in fact an enormous relief after the vagaries of Win. But of course 
it depends what you are doing in Win and then in Linux. I'm using it for 
ordinary office Secretarial type work a lot of the time. I didn't need to 
know much to get that kind of work done when first using Linux. One Word 
Processor is much like another and the KMail is so easy to set up. Gimp still 
confuses me often but I am learning. At least it was all installed by someone 
else. I have help at the end of a phone line but even if I hadn't, I'd have 
stuck with Linux somehow, I think, because it's efficient.

But I would agree one needs to be reasonably experienced with my kind of work  
and reasonably relaxed if things go wrong which isn't so easy if you have a 
supervisor hanging over you. I discovered when doing temp work some years 
back that most of the staff I encountered doing my kind of work had had a 
very specific training on the lines of need to know only. They weren't given 
time to play with the programs and some of the programs were cut down 
versions. 

>> stories of how they got a virus so
> someone installed Norton, that didn't work so someone else installed AVG on
> top of it and now their computer has slowed down to a crawl and they don't
> know how to deal with it. 

Hilarious. I never tried using two AV at once...... 

>> At which point they
> look confused and ask me what virus protection software I use, 

Astonishing. I try to convert people but as you say, they can't cope with the 
idea of changing. It's like saying, let's go to Neptune for lunch.

>> AND STILL I find them sneaking
> back to Windows when I'm not there to handhold on the grounds that they
> 'just want to get some work done'. 

Interesting, isn't it? I can't wait to back to Linux "so I can get on with 
proper work". 

>> It probably took me at least a
> year to get up to speed, however that involved installing and configuring
> Debian on my own, with nothing but the internet for guidance.

Of course the average user doesn't need to do that themselves but a friend of 
mine did it all herself from scratch, after I'd told her how good Linux is. I 
was impressed.

> There does seem to be a baseline of intelligence and ability to use Google
> (what MS would call a 'power-user') in order to find Linux rewarding, it's
> not really suited for people who just want a glorified media centre, you
> have to want to do proper computing, most people don't.

We changed the motherboard. My hardware supplier tells me earnestly that Win  
will have to be reloaded (it's a bit more unstable than it was previously) 
and what amazes me is he accepts this continual reloading as normal!!! OK, I 
know he makes money doing it but what a bore when he could be doing something 
interesting with Linux and showing others how to do interesting things with 
it. Admittedly removing Windows viruses is probably far more fun. I had an 
interesting 4 hours once when a friend removed one from my computer and then 
showed me how the virus was written, how he could read it, and how it worked. 
(I did have McAfee but was very unlucky. The virus was so new even McAfee 
didn't have the disinfectant written although they could tell us how to 
remove the virus ourselves.)

>> it's easier than trying to figure out the Windows registry

I always wanted to play around with that to see what would happen (one of my 
bad - or good - habits is that strong temptation) but I didn't dare do much 
because of the business work load. I regret that a lot. 

> My housemate, still on Windows, has
> reinstalled his system countless times, it still doesn't work properly.

I can't understand how Win users can accept this situation.

>>A lot of people simply don't have the
> time and inclination for the learning curve and would rather pay an
> 'expert' to sort it out for them.

Yes. It's just a workhorse to them. Not an entertainment. I certainly wish I 
could do it all myself. I like the challenge.

Ros