[SWLUG] Re: Starting with Linux

[Tony Pursell]

On 19 Jan 2005 at 23:43, Adam Rykala wrote:

I'm with you all the way, Adam.  I want to see Linux succeed.  Its just that 
I think that the prevailing opinion that Hugh should do his own install is not 
the way forward, if Linux is to break through into wider PC use.  We have 
to look for what it is that attracts ordinary, non-techie, users and one thing 
is that it come pre-installed and ready to run.  If Hugh found a PC with, for 
instance, Ubuntu pre-installed, he would then, for instance,  find he has a 
fully specced office suite in the form of OpenOffice.org, instead of Works, 
which is about the best you will get free on a new Windows PC, or forking 
out £hundreds for MS Office.  

> In my Suse install I double click on a RPM and install.

Perhaps other distros should take note.
 
> If one app is making you shy away from Linux, then perhaps Linux isn't
> for you... but there's a long way between that and "isn't ready for
> anyone".

Missing TaxCalc & Money wouldn't cause me a problem as I would 
always have the know how to dual boot.  I give these as a examples of 
good value commercial software that Linux cannot attract with a small 
user base.  
 
> As I said it isn't a personal flame, I just despair of XP themes for
> KDE or Gnome, calls for an XP start menu, OS X style Docks etc. What I
> like about Linux is the power. The shell is a godsend. When my wife
> finished installing her SuSe box she started using it, and then
> realised she didn't have a web editor installed she liked. SO while
> she was working i ssh'ed in, started Yast and installed Quanta and
> Mozilla Composer.

I'm not taking this at all personally.  I enjoy a robust discussion and accept 
that I will get strong opinions back if I am a bit provocative.  

> She's now (as both of us) on KDE 3.4 beta 1.....
> 
> I'm not flaming you, or anyone here. Its just my view. I started on 8
> bit micro's, went to CP/M and then used Unix in a IT environment, then
> heading onto Win 3.11/WfWG and then NT Server admin. I used to love my
> X box with CDE in work, and preferred using that to any Win box, even
> when it was in mono only ;)
> 
> The most telling indicator for me was my wife, who isn't particular
> techy and uses her pc as a tool. When her XP machine went ****up last
> year she was using my Linux box for a month. She loved it so much that
> last week, when her XP install just keeled over and died (as it did on
> a bi-monthly basis without fail - and it wasn't spyware - she's a good
> admin of her own box and has no truck with Bonzi Buddy's, Smiley
> Central and the like - in fact SC launches her into a tirade of cusses
> ;-) ) she said "**** IT" and grabbed my SuSe DVD, and is now happily
> using Quanta, OpenOffice and Firefox on her machine and in her own
> words "Why didn't I do this years ago"?
> 
You're experience in winning you wife over is great.  I'm fed up with my 
Win 98 falling over.  So that's what has made me have a go.  But we are 
both techies with lots of history.  (My Unix goes back to the time in the 
1980s when there were no PCs.)  So we can support others who want to 
try Linux.  Would your wife have gone that way on her own?

> 
> We're currently in the process of ruining my degree (exam week in
> cf.ac.uk ;-) ) by discovering the joys of our own Tetrinet server. I
> wonder if F/OSS has ever been quoted in divorce papers? ;-)
> 

Good luck in your exams.

Tony Pursell