[Gllug] Open Source lobbying meeting - UKUUG London Thurs 19th

Richard Turner richard at zygous.co.uk
Sun Oct 15 10:21:01 UTC 2006


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Christopher Hunter wrote:
> On Sunday 15 Oct 2006 09:50, Richard Turner wrote:
>> The last two places I've worked have been very pro-FOSS - one using
>> Debian on all of its servers and a few techie workstations, another
>> using Debian and Ubuntu on all but a few legacy servers and about a
>> third of its desktops (plus VMWare for some Windows apps).
> 
> I've always found the various emulators and virtualisations too much hassle 
> for the average user - this is something that really needs to be simplified.

Well I suppose my current employer is a special case in that it has a
high proportion of technically savvy people in non-technical roles,
however I have found that spending the time to explain to a non-techie
how to fire-up a virtual Windows session and what it's limitations are
does work - most people are willing and eager to learn, they just need
someone to explain stuff to them in terms they understand and at their
pace. All too often that's deemed impractical so these people are left
learning Windows apps "on the job".

>> FOSS becoming mainstream isn't something that will suddenly happen -
>> there won't be some Earth-shaking event that catapults FOSS into the
>> "mainstream"; however, if more and more non-technie folk use Linux,
>> because it's free and safer than Windows on a PC with broadband,
>> eventually people will start to want to use the same software at work as
>> at home. Many IT managers, at least in smaller companies, might well
>> welcome that!
> 
> "Vista" might be the first "earth-shaking" event - it needs much higher spec 
> hardware than the average desktop machine - particularly in terms of memory - 
> 1 Gb is the realistic minimum, despite MS' claims.  The "eye candy" gimmicks 
> also require an above-average video card.  It breaks compatibility with older 
> Windows software - even Office XP doesn't work properly.  It has the same old 
> security flaws and fundamental instabilities - despite MS' claims, it's still 
> the same old NT codebase (there's nobody left at Microsoft capable of writing 
> anything new).  Last of all, it is very expensive, and has all sorts of usage 
> restrictions that will make it almost impossible to run "within the rules" - 
> I can guarantee that most copies will be hacked to avoid the "Windows Genuine 
> Advantage" validation, and will never be properly patched.

So it's just the same as Windows XP except that it requires more
powerful computers? In many cases all the hardware is replaced in
rotation anyway so all that will happen is that desktops will continue
to run whatever was pre-installed on them until they're written-off,
even if that means they're unsupported for some time, and then they'll
be replaced with machines beefy enough to run Vista, which will come
pre-installed.

Vista won't be any more Earth-shaking than Windows XP was, or Windows 95.

>> When a non-techie person notices the IT manager using Ubuntu on his
>> desktop and asks if he can do so too, because that's what he uses at
>> home, then FOSS is really "mainstream".
> 
> My recent experience is that the non-techie types are seriously impressed with 
> XGL and all the 3D gimmicks that I've got running on one of my desktops and a 
> laptop.  They see "eye candy" effects that leave the "Vista" demonstrations 
> they've seen way behind.  That's the first "selling point".  
> 
> The machines are also visibly much faster than anything "running" Windows, and 
> the lack of expensive "anti-virus" and "anti-malware" software running in the 
> background amazes Windows users.  When you explain the fundamental security 
> differences between our OS of choice and Windows, they start to see that FOSS 
> might be a good idea.  The "deal-breaker" is often games.... 

For some home users, yes. Some people are going to be impressed by glitz
and put-off by being unable to run Black & White 2, or whatever the
latest graphics-heavy game is. None of my friends or family fall into
that category though - they all fear computers as things they no nothing
about. They're not impressed with glitzy graphics because Toy Story was
way more impressive years ago, and "that was on a computer wasn't it?"
Neither do they play games. What they are concerned about is online
security and whether they can plug-in their iPods and expect everything
to Just Work.

Judging by the success stories we all hear about Linux enthusiasts
converting their friends' and relatives' computers to Linux, I think
those people impressed by glitz and put-off by lack of games support are
the minority. It's by targeting "normal" home users, who care about ease
of use, security and good support from a friend or relative that Linux
will become steadily more "mainstream", i.e. something that Joe Bloggs
PC user will not only have heard of, but may even recognise, at least to
the same degree as he'd recognise that MacOS isn't Windows.

R.

- --
"Racing turtles, the grapefruit is winning..."

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