Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free 1243
Vlad Dolezal tips us to a philosophical take on why Linux hasn't grown to challenge Windows as the most popular operating system. According to the author, the reason is simple; Linux is free, and humans tend not to equate free things with being valuable.
"Here's what Compy McNewb sees. He can get both OS's for free. But one of them is worth over three hundred dollars, while the other one is worth nothing. 'That's not true!' I hear you scream. 'Linux is worth a lot! It's just being offered for free!' I know it's not true that Linux is worth less than Windows. It's far more valuable to the end user in terms of getting things done. But that's not what Average Joe Computer Newbie sees. He sees a free product versus a three-hundred-dollar product he can get free. It's all about the perception!"
King's New Robes Effect (Score:4, Interesting)
In the past year I've had a lot of success converting frustrated Windows users into Linux people... and simply convincing both Windows and Mac users that Linux was a legitimate operating system. However, I've also frequently run into a scenario where I would be showing somebody my Dell laptop running Ubuntu, and they'd be REALLY excited about the features, the intuitive UI, the eye candy... and then they'd ask me how much it was... and when I told them it was free, they'd be disappointed!
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:2, Interesting)
Simple marketing! why make it more complicated? (Score:5, Interesting)
This is the best example I can think of. There was a small watch company (can't think of the name off my head without getting out a textbook) who sold fairly high-end watches for about $500-$800 and sales were poor to flat. The company raised the price to around $1500 and sales went crazy. The higher price has a perceived higher quality, even if it doesn't.
Cars work that way, computers work that way. Of course price doesn't always equal quality, but it can and that is a that point is stronger in peoples minds.
it is true (Score:4, Interesting)
People associate more expensive products with being superior. Stupid, I know. But it's true.
OS X filled the gap here. (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes, Here is how to make Linux valuable (Score:3, Interesting)
2) Quickbooks and TurboTax are ported to Unix/Linux under the GPL.
3) IBM, Novell, Red Hat, Sun, etc., build a Linux application server tuned especially to offer up Quickbooks in a Remote Desktop style.
4) Offer said server on an easy to install LiveCD that lets everyone try it out and easily install it.
5) IBM, Sun, etc., make a huge amount of money selling enterprise ready QuickBooks servers.
6) Novell, Red Hat, etc., make a huge amount of money selling QuickBooks support.
7) All the small businesses save a ton of money not having to deal with QuickBooks forced upgrades and other shenanigans.
8) MS certainly isn't going to disappear, but they certainly feel a disturbance in the force -- as if a million people suddenly cried out Freedom!
Re:No investment != no reward? (Score:4, Interesting)
In a consumer-based society products are propagated by sellers.(Computer stores in this case.)
When a product/service is good, the penetration of a product/service is directly proportional to number of sellers.(Think iPods)
The number of sellers is maximised and thus achieved by the ease of profitability of the good/service sold.
Items which can be sold as-is attract both small and large resellers who market and profit from the good/service directly.(It's easier to sell something as-is, then have to think of something to bundle it with to make it profitable.)
Remove the sale price and the result is instead of being the sold item, it merely becomes a tool to sell another kind of product/service.(Usually as a value themed bundle - such as services or hardware, think IBM or Walmart.)
Additionally, selling it cheaply doesn't solve the problem either, as there needs to be significant profit for sellers to be bothered.(Why you will find windows and not linux in the local computer store.)
Free items are rarely marketed to consumers for these reasons, marketing costs money, marketing is mostly to generate sales uplift. Marketing is paid for by revenue. The end result is that there is limited mass-market penetration, and it's propagated almost entirely by skilled persons or word of mouth.
Re:Duh. (Score:3, Interesting)
Of all the methods of getting people to adopt Linux, I just don't think "it needs to cost more" is one of them.
Linux is no where near windows in ease of use yet (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No investment != no reward? (Score:1, Interesting)
Oh that's why Linux geeks hate Windows so much! Because it is so painless to get stuff working, hence it has no value.
Whereas struggling for hours to find a working Linux driver for your particular brandX hardware, discovering that there isn't one, then being told to write it and share it with the community because it'd be helpful to have a working driver for brandX is so much more painful that it has value beyond belief.
OK to be serious now, Windows and Linux both have their own strong points and weaknesses. People should use whichever suits them. I prefer Windows myself these days, but in my younger days when I loved to endlessly tinker with assembly and C code I'd have preferred Linux. Nowadays my slothful old self prefers gaming and web browsing and since most of the shiny new games I like run on Windows that in large part dictates the OS I use.
simple answer: lock-in (Score:3, Interesting)
Hardware: Linux is pretty good at working with MOST of the hardware, but there are wireless cards and scanners and of course other devices that don't work out of the box with Linux
Software: yes there are replacements and most of the people probably need only a browser, but if 100% of Windows programs would work on Linux I'm sure we'd not have this discussion.
All the rest of "reasons": ease of use, resistance to change, lack of perceived values they are there but they are minor issues, most of the people I know won't even be able to tell the difference between KDE and Windows, most of the people I know don't care about the "value" of their OS either.
And of course, why says that Linux is not growing? It's growing pretty fast considering these issues. What do people expect?
Re:Average Joe user is unqualified (Score:3, Interesting)
Proprietary software gives you a fish every time you boot up.
Free Software offers a spectrum from the same fish, to a kit and destructions for building your own fishing pole, along with a few Mb of usenet postings on where to fish.
Nothing is intrinsically wrong with accepting the fish, but the point is that the opportunity to get out there and catch your own should be advertised and encouraged in a gentle way.
Many do not think past taking the fish, simply because the possibility of catching their own has never been spoken to them.
Might hurt someone's profits, you know.
It spread here (Score:2, Interesting)
I have no Idea how to use linux (Score:3, Interesting)
Call the emperor (Score:5, Interesting)
As far as I am considered, I hope Linux NEVER becomes mainstream.
I've been using Linux exclusively for 4 years and I love it, especially when all the freeloaders ask me
"You're in computers; my computer is acting up, can you take a look?"
"What operating system are you running?" I ask.
"Windows."
"Sorry, I can't help, I run Linux"
Ahh... Sweet peace and quiet, not only in my computer, but in my life also.
Fuck being an evangelist, it has caused nothing but pain for me and now I just want to be left alone.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:No investment != no reward? (Score:4, Interesting)
Windows doesn't work better. It works better when it's preinstalled with hardware that it's designed for. Same with Apple, same with Linux. Get yourself some quality hardware, and Linux starts working much better than Windows.
A Student's Perspective (Score:2, Interesting)
I "wobbled my windows" and "rotated my cube" and replied "Yeah, it's real ancient"..
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:5, Interesting)
- synaptic is a killer application, the dumbed down version is literally idiot proof
- when i click on a file, if a suitable program isn't installed, i get a prompt if i want it
- when i input a command and a suitable program isn't installed, i get instructions to install it
combined with my subtle RDF, it works quite nicely
Re:Uhhh... (Score:4, Interesting)
Oh yes, because we know Windows costs less. Lets take first the OS, ranging from $50-$300, even if you buy it OEM you will still pay the approximately $50 it costs for the OEM Windows, not to mention all the time taking off all the crapware they install on new PCs. Now, because we don't want your Windows box to become part of a botnet, you install an antivirus/anti-spyware that costs around $40. Of course while your at it you need to install MS Office, around $150. So thats just $240 in software alone. Now assuming you need a dual-core PC with 2 gigs of RAM to run Vista properly, that costs around $450 without monitor and such. A far cry from the $200 gPC, so with your $300 of time and effort spent learning Linux you have spent $500 compared to the $690 with the MS solution.
And honestly, how much money do you think it would cost to learn Office 2007/Vista? I would expect a lot more and it comes without the assurance that it won't get discontinued and you have to learn Office 2009/Windows 7 within 3 years and of course pay more. Learning Linux is an investment, and not a hard one at that. And honestly, Linux would "cost" the average person more than $300 to start using in terms of time and effort. It's cost me way more than that, and I have some idea of what I'm doing.
Re:It's the applications, stupid! (Score:3, Interesting)
I've played with live CDs. I work in technology. I administer Linux and OpenServer systems.
But I run XP on my personal laptop. The only application I really need from Windows is Quicken, which you can take when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. It sucks that I'm locked in to Windows, and locked in to those Intuit bastards, but there just isn't any way to export all of my history as far as I know, and there isn't another program that could really pull it in and give me all the same features.
Maybe I'll look at running XP within a virtual machine just for Quicken. Except I don't think I have an XP install disk - it came pre-loaded.
I don't know (Score:4, Interesting)
I've long since given up trying to advocate a new OS to people who aren't fed up with the one they have. But last week, I heard from a friend of mine who told me his roommate installed it after seeing it on his PC. He installed it after seeing it on his girlfriend's computer. She happens to be my roommate, and she asked me to install it without prompting from me.
I didn't even install two of these systems. I didn't
Aside from that, freedom is worth more than free. I am worth more than beer. Thank you very much.
So he may be right, in the sense that Windows users basically hate freedom (like terrorists! er, no wait...), so they put a low price tag on it. But everyone I know who's installed Gutsy since it's been out has been pretty pleased with it
Perhaps freedom won't sell. But that's because it can only be given away. And as people realize that they're paying to have their freedoms
And again, why is it so important that GNU/Linux "spread"? Just keep it^H^H me free.
Re:No investment != no reward? (Score:4, Interesting)
My girlfriend was about to shell out several hundred dollars for Word on her new Mac. I introduced her to openoffice, but she couldn't figure out how to save files, and said "it uses incompatible format, I have to buy the Word."
I showed her how to save in
Viral marketing can work, and old learned prejudices can be overcome...
It's been done, and it didn't work (Score:2, Interesting)
Did charging money for Linux do anything to spread it to the masses? Well, SUSE was purchased by Novell, Mandrake nearly went bust, and Red Hat canned its end-user distribution and replaced it with Fedora. So much for that idea.
Linux also does some things that are scary (Score:5, Interesting)
I could go on with a whole list of design choices Linux has made that are like this. Basically what it comes down to is that it doesn't seem as easy to a non-technical user. Even if the process is just as easy (and there are times when it certainly isn't) the fact that it involves something that looks highly technical makes it very intimidating. This is going to hinder adoption, of course. If people feel it is harder, they aren't going to want to use it or learn it.
Catering to Mass-market tastes ... (Score:4, Interesting)
I believe that Linux being free has nothing whatsoever to do with its value perception.
Instead I believe that people, and to some extent correctly, still equate Linux with "something for geeks, not end-users" because of:
- the generally poor standard of GUI's on Linux itself and Linux software
- the generally dismissive attitude of Linux users / software developers for a nice polished GUI with all the details taken care of.
There ... I've said it. So flame me.
Ordinary users simply do _not_ want something that forces them to go to the command line for system maintenance. Neither do they want to have to edit configuration files, let alone scripts. It has taken Linux distributions years to come up with something as sophisticated as YAST (for SuSE Linux) and KDE Control center, and especially KDE still doesn't provide a reliable one-stop solution to detect and install my inkjet printer. I have to go to CUPS for that. In a word ... it's less simple than MS Windows (unless you already know what you should be doing because you did it before and kept notes).
I have seen threads with expostulations about how great command line oriented programs are, and I agree ... for some programs that are oriented towards batch processing, for repetitive jobs, and for software that I write myself for my own use. (When I write software for my own personal use, I never write GUIs. Command-line, control files, and file in, file out. If a GUI is needed, someone else can do that.)
But for other people's programs, and for programs I don't use every day I want to be prompted and guided ... by a GUI ... with tooltips and a smoothly functioning and fairly complete Help function. The very last think I want is to be obliged to read a manual and remember commands for some fink of a program before I use it. I believe I have a typical end-user mentality in this respect.
And did I mention that as an end-user I really do _not_ want to see every program sporting its own GUI layout either? I don't care a fig about what some programmer thinks is good way to organise his GUI. I want my GUI to be *standardised* (at least the toolbar) so that it's somewhat familiar as soon as the application starts. Copy-paste should of course be supported, and don't you dare to let it default to any other key combination than C for copy and V for paste, and a print option (if applicable at all) right where I expect it ... under the menu (which has to be the leftmost menu) somewhere 3/4 down the list.). Well ... I might be able to cope with a standard GUI layout under Linux that's different from Windows, but no more than one.
And then the graphics itself ... ouch. I really *hate* GTK-based programs. They look somewhat like the Windows programs I'm used to, but the widgets work differently. I find them clunky. Ugly and clunky. Again, I couldn't care less what some programming community thinks of them. I don't want them. Take the typical GTK file menu for one thing. An abortion! And what's more, I won't have them unless there is no alternative.
As an illustration, take for example AviDemux (see here: http://fixounet.free.fr/avidemux/ [fixounet.free.fr]). It comes in two flavours: with a GTK+ interface and with a QT4 interface. I tried the GTK+ flavour first and disliked it. The QT4 version on the other hand was acceptable. It didn't irritate.
The good news is that this nicely illustrates the difference between what in the context of "Git" (the version control software) is called: the plumbing (the guts) and the porcelain (the superficial layer that comprises the GUI). A well-designed GUI can be rendered in either GTK+ or QT4, and it should have absolutely no impact on the plumbing.
Re:No investment != no reward? (Score:3, Interesting)
Hundreds of thousands of farmers (in developing countries and the west) with real-time access to pretty graphs of farm product prices on local and international markets and detailed short/medium weather forecasting would disagree.
Re:"far more valuable to end user"? HA! (Score:3, Interesting)
No. No it's not. OpenOffice sucks. It's usability is worse than MS Office
Oddly enough, I've been using OpenOffice since its early StarOffice days (before it was bought out by Sun). Its kept its UI generally stable and I've never had to waste my time learning new menu layouts at each new version release. It's available where ever I might need it.
Personally, I always remove Microsoft Office and replace it with OpenOffice. OO's the known quantity. MSO is the one with the dodgy shifting target document formats.
it's compatibility filters regularly screw up simple files
If Microsoft doesn't care if its own Office app is compatible with older copies of Office, why should I? Need to transfer a document to someone else? Use PDF, RTF or TXT.
They DO care about WindowsMedia 10
Sucks to be them. Everyone else has heard of Videolan's VLC.
Also, if you require me to do any sysadmining whatsoever you've epicly failed
Ah, so you're the one who doesn't use Windows Update, clean the viruses from your PC or run defrag every once in a while.
You want linux to really be valuable to people
Nope. Personally, I want Microsoft to buy out the QNX folks and impliment Windows 7 as its GUI. Then create a nice sandboxed emulator to handle all the old Win32 app cruft.
Re:Linux is no where near windows in ease of use y (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Consumers Hate Change (Score:3, Interesting)
But you should try Office 2007. Microsoft went back to the drawing board and came up with a new interface from scratch after they realized that most of their requested features were features Office already had, people just couldn't locate them in the menus. I don't know if you'll think it's better, but I quite like it...
And I really like the thought of a major software maker actually working to improve the usability of their product (even if it doesn't work out, at least they tried... that's more than, say, Adobe's ever done.)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
The system has become full o shit and can't be used anymore.
Try to find the OEM-rescue disc.
Copy a friends XP instead
Find out that their valid license key doesn't allow them to install from that particular disc even though it says "XP Home Edition SP1", just like the sticker on their computer (WTF?)
Get a volume license XP Pro with a pirate key on the internet.
Find out that 1/3 of their hardware aren't supported in XP without something called "drivers" that they have no idea where to get.
Don't install a firewall, antivirus or any Microsoft updates.
Install the two games and two applications that they own.
Get a bunch of pirated applications of the internet.
Install Microsoft updates that have been automatically downloaded.
Install lots of shit..
Back to a system that can't be used.
Or, since Vista is the newest and therefore the best, they get vista in step 5 and find out that 9/10 of their hardware aren't supported...
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:4, Interesting)
-OEM copies don't require activation
-OEM copies come with all the drivers slipstreamed
So take out about 1/2 of your steps.
If you're really installing windows a lot you'd also have a rollup CD, so just 1 reboot.
Compare that to 300 megs (183 updates already!!!) of downloads for an ubuntu 7.10 install I did on Sunday, and there's no way to slipstream or download those for the other 3 computers I'm installing later...
I love ubuntu, and will continue to use it, but monthly updates to their installer CD images would be KILLER. So yes it's 7.10, but if I download it today I am current through Jan 31. If I download it in March I'm current through Feb 29. And so on.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm sorry to say that a program that you don't have the source for isn't open source. The fact that a binary may run on Linux doesn't magically make it so no matter how much the vendors wish it. Since my system is built from source, it behooves me to insist on hardware that favors my system. In short, I vote with my wallet.
Kapodistrias, Greece and the french fries! (Score:2, Interesting)
Around 1828, after Greece revolted and got independent from Turkish enslavement, Greece's new governor Ioannis Kapodistrias, in order to feed the people, introduced the potato to Greece and large shipments of potatoes were distributed to the people for free. Nobody even bothered to taste it. Kapodistrias was smart: He gathered back all the potato quantities and locked in large containers, and also put armed guardians to 'guard' it, as if it was something extremely valuable. Quickly, interest was sparked among the Greeks, and soon they started looting the containers (under the guards eyes (who they were told to overlook)) in order to eat the forbidden fruit...
The moral: If you want linux to spread, lock it, and also distribute the necessary cracks. But there is also a more subtle moral: Do you really want this kind of stupid people for linux users?
Except that... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
I've had quite a bit of problem with this under Vista. Which actually is a good example of why it's important to have drivers. One of the reasons I didn't want to move to Vista, and still use XP, even though I got a free Vista license, was that it didn't just run out of the box with all I had. The same thing, applied to Linux, is even more of a problem, since moving to Linux will mean having to do a lot more work to get comfortable.
I run a Live CD occasionally (usually Knoppix), and IMO things are better than they used to be. But last time I used one I still needed to call a Linux-using friend to get some things working.
On the original subject, I think there's something to that. Getting something for free which costs money feels more valuable (for example, the Vista I got vs. Linux). On the other hand, I also have a Microsoft Office license, but I still have Open Office installed instead, and frankly (especially when I wrote a lot) I preferred Wordpad over both. So I'd say that it's more a matter of supplying the needs of the user than the matter of cost.
What crap. (Score:3, Interesting)
perception in everything (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
Menu entries organized by function instead of company name is a very big thing, though, as anyone navigating it will have less problems finding what they want. Especially newbies.
I just installed Linux for my grandfather, who has never ever used a computer before; I'll be setting it up for him today.
I put Kickoff on his Kubuntu install and set up Compiz.
Kickoff sorts things rather nicely, though it would be better if it were translated completely; I may have to do something about that in the future. I'm quite certain it will help him find the desired action or program.
I have set up Compiz to burn windows as they are closed, and to slide them to the taskbar as they are minimized, so that he knows what has happened to them.
These may seem to be trivial or even superfluous things to any geek, but any kind of help or cue when you don't really know what you're doing can prove to mean a lot.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:5, Interesting)
I usually say that it is a Good Thing that hardware usually doesn't support Linux. Hardware supports Windows, Linux supports hardware. This means that I can plug in a new wifi dongle, and not having to install this brand new networking management software, which comes on the driver disk, and happens to also include a driver somewhere that you can't really get without that whole new disgusting application.
After having to touch my mothers new Vaio laptop with Vista for a while, I realized that the biggest problem with Windows isn't Windows, it's that every application in the world that isn't a part of the original installation is fucking annoying. There were about a gazillion applications labeled Vaio, mostly duplicating already existing functionality (you know how every newly installed Windows OS has a pop up that welcomes you, and offers to show you some documentation? Her laptop had two - one from Windows, and one from Sony, with at least 50% the same content, and the other 50% being lot's of annoying "we have a Club Vaio we want you to be in - it doesn't do anything, but it at least has a cheesy name!" buttons). However, if you remove the annoying Vaio apps, suddenly the Fn+F#-keys stop working (you know, to change volume, brightness, monitor, etc), because that driver was apparently part of one of the most annoying applications. Which, of course, can't be downloaded and reinstalled from Sonys website, because the binary they have is broken.
You know when you come home to someone because "their computer is a bit slow", and you realize it's because it has Bonzai Buddy, Gator, 1 000 hits in Ad-Aware, and 50 or so viruses? You know the feeling? That's what I was feeling as I was booting the computer. For the first time.
So please, computer vendors: don't ever, ever sell computers with preinstalled Linux. I'll do it myself, thankyouverymuch, so that I will not have to be exposed to your "user friendlyness". Give me an plain, unmodified Ubuntu CD or something if you want, and a clean hard drive.
Hardware vendors: don't ever, ever release Linux drivers - I don't want to install a pop up blocker for my web browser to be able to change resolution on my monitor. Give me the specs and/or source code, and I'll let someone who's not an idiot write drivers.
Software vendors: don't ever, ever release fancy one-click Linux binaries - I don't want to get a million fancy, themed (not system themed - your own theme engine you developed, just to annoy me) pop ups and toolbar icons, just because I was stupid enough to actually wanting to use your product - I'm sorry, I will never do it again, now leave me alone! Give me the source code, and I'll let someone who isn't an idiot create a deb package that can actually be removed, and/or fork your product and make it non-horrible.
Linux is hard for end users, get over it. (Score:2, Interesting)
Assuming you get past the installation point, there are a number of things that are not user friendly.
Applications have a horrible UI. Really, Linux has by far the worst looking apps. Users don't use bad-looking apps, regardless what that they do.
Users don't want to type commands in a terminal. By each command line you tell someone to do, God kills a new Linux user and makes a windows user instead.
WiFi with Samba are not easy to set up. Before you yell at me, I know YOU can, and I know users can't.
It has too many config options. Many config options clutter the screen and they end reading nothing.
Users don't care about squeezing every single processor cycle, the don't even know there is one, and they shouldn't know.
Users don't know what a hard drive is and don't need to know, so don't even ask about partitioning.
Probably the worst one: If something goes wrong, it doesn't degrade too gracefully. You'll probably have to type some lines in the terminal making God kill a dozen new Linux users until you fix it.
Have you seen an iPod fail? It doesn't give you a mem dump, nor a blue screen. It displays a "sad iPod" icon and a URL to Apple's tech support. That's all the users need to know.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
There is a second reason. If you look at many of the design jobs, there's almost always a requirement for Photoshop/Illustrator/Fireworks/Flash, so there's a strong reason to choose Adobe at the individual level is purely for improving one's marketability in job interviews. I shudder to think of walking into an interview that demands Adobe experience and try to sell them on nothing but Gimp/Inkscape/Emacs/and-whatever-else experience.
Of course, that point is probably moot if one is an freelance contractor, but the majority aren't. And even then there may be requirements for files to be in Adobe formats. If you've ever exported/imported those files, they rarely go smoothly without some form of rasterization or munging something.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
I have worked at a telecom company (big by my countries standards, 2-3k workers, 1 million fixed + 1 million cellphone subscribers).
90 percent of the people there work either via web, or terminals for legacy software.
While I was there, my coworkers changed a companywide VB6 program used for work hours registering into a JSF application.
Developers use mostly Eclipse, and those who don't fall into that generous 10% I set apart, including some VB6 legacy software, and marketing people who use publishing software, and have lots of old files.
MS Office and OpenOffice are used indistinctly. You get a machine with OpenOffice, and you need to make the case to get MS Office.
Publications are made with PDF, so people are ok with OpenOffice, because it works great for them, and MSOffice is not enough for them without Acrobat, and they need to justify the expense of MSOffice + Acrobat.
The application that was very important for them was Outlook, because it lets them share calendars. Now they have an internal web app that works better for that, and is easily accessible everywhere.
I think that maybe most people need exchange to do their jobs, but there are lots of other packages that work much better and are more reliable. So it's not that most people need windows to do their jobs, it's that IT departments haven't had the need to transition yet. With the current move of US economy, you will see some of what I described happening around you.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't really think so. I'm seeing a lot of people moving to the Mac (full disclosure: I did, and I can't believe I'm saying that).
You're still pretty heavily in the IT industry there, though. The point I make endlessly at Slashdot is that most people aren't in IT.
For me, ALL of the software I need to do my research is Windows-only. But that hasn't stopped me from just running it under virtualization with VMware Fusion on the Mac. I picked up a Mac laptop last summer just kind of out of curiosity, and have been stunned at how good it is at getting things done, now that they are on Intel and I can run Windows (or Linux!) apps in virtualization with, to me, no noticeable performance hit.
It's worse than that... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
My mom will be psyched when she no longer has to boot to XP to add music. I think the only thing left for her there is her tax software, and that's a once a year use. Linux is spreading - just slowly.
One of the last real hurdles is a solid sound manager, (stupid-easy gui like in windows) which PulseAudio seems to be on track to provide. Being able to two to four click to set a default sound device is a very useful thing for even an incompetent computer user.
The fact that my mom has nearly everything she needs in linux at the moment (and to be honest, I think her tax program might run under Wine) is an indication that linux is getting close to usable for the bulk of the non-technical population. Sure, it will lag in features for windows power-users, gamers, and specialists, but for the average joe, it's working.
My mom just discovered that there are dozens of solitaire games in the "Add/Remove Programs" menu under Ubuntu. She said, "What? You can actually ADD programs there? You can't in windows!" And she was amazed that there were 20k+ programs available, searchable, and installable with only a click or two. From her standpoint, that's FAR easier than navigating shareware/nagware websites to download and install games which are often crippled versions of useful programs.
At the same time, she's thrilled when ALL of her programs update at the same time, on her command. If she doesn't want to click the little triangle, she doesn't. And eight different programs don't pop up eight different "There's an Update Available!" notices while windows updates in the background, screwing over any semblance of user experience. And for most non-technical users, who let all their third-party apps do that, I'd guess that would be a similar experience. They just need the introduction.
Linux already has 95% of what you need to browse the web, and do all the stupid shit that people do on it. Outside of a few windows-only plugins for a few off-the-beaten-path websites, the average joe can do what he usually does on the internet. Combine that with full control over program updates, and the ease of finding and installing apps, and I think linux will do a fair job of converting the sheeple masses, once they get that initial introduction. I'm truly convinced of it. My mom is starting to become an evangelist about linux, due to those reasons.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't have to be a master sysadmin, but you should be comfortable doing it...
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:1, Interesting)
Remarks like yours which start out with an insult
Helpful comments to new users:
1) RTFM
2) If you don't like it, here's the source code, go write the change yourself
3) Man pages suck so much it is ridiculous
4) Coders write programs for their own use, then wonder why no one else uses them
5) Cryptic 3 letter names for shite I want to use daily
6) Command line needed to reconfigure simple shite that should be in a simple gui control panel
7) Command line needed for anything
8) Wireless support, Linux doesn't (this is an example people, read it and treat it as such) work with wireless right out of the box, it needs one to delve into it's guts to get it working
9) OpenOffice may or may not take an hour to load (see previous post) but it does automatically default to a file type for saving that MS Office can not read, thus making user generated files unreadable by MS Office, with whom 99% of the people you need to talk will not understand or be able to open
10) Being more concerned with a philosophy than with usability
11) Rude and condescending user base
12) Do you really want me to go on?
Linux is a fine set of OSes for the hobbyist, fine for people who get satisfaction in delving into the guts, but for the average joe or jane user it sucks so bad they wonder why anyone in their right mind would even suggest it! They just want their computer to work. One of the Computer Scientists at the R&D lab where I work was having issues with Vista... Pre installed on her new laptop, so I gave her Ubuntu to try... Long story short, after running it off of the cd that night she gave me back the cd and told me that she wasn't interested in wasting time attempting to relearn everything about her computer in order to get work done, she just wanted to get work done, so she pulled out her old XP install disk and installed that on her laptop...
People, stop thinking you are going to take over the world until you realize that feeling superior and being insulting aren't winning social engineering strategies, and start thinking, gee, how could we make that GUI more useable and intuitive for a non-technical user... oh and GUIs for every conceivable setting need to be developed.
Yeah, I have a chip on my shoulder from every damn time I have gone to a newsgroup to ask a question and been told one of two things: RTFM (I already did or I wouldn't have been there asshole) or well, if you can't figure it out, then you have no business owning a computer. WTF? Over. I use a mac and a pc mostly because guess what? Apple and MS never say that if I don't take the time to figure it out that I don't deserve to own it, they are helpful and walk me through it.
So, in short stop thinking that Mom and Pop are stupid and start thinking that if you want a user base, outside of your current users then you need to think of those peoples needs and meet them
End Rant.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
Just because you don't know how to do it doesn't mean it can't be done.
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
There are a lot of people who care more about covering their ass than about delivering solutions. They want to put in a 40 hour day, and if it doesn't work, they want to point fingers at someone and go home without being blamed.
Those people are losers. They don't care about protecting their capacity to succeed, they care about preventing accountability. They fail on a regular basis because of this attitude.
There are some people who care more about delivering a top notch solution to a problem. They want to put in the time to make it work, and they don't want to have to ask someone to care about their problem and hope they do.
Those people are winners. They don't care much about accountability and suits, they care about being a person who always succeeds at what they attempt. They don't generally fail.
Winners don't like depending on other companies to cover their ass. They like being able to do it themselves. They take responsibility because that is their nature.
That is the answer to your question. Stick it wherever you like.
Re:Power of threadjack (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Or it is not spreading (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, it matters when you're running a virtual machine with a virtual disk contained in files on your disk. If those files are not defragmented completely then you can get seriously horrible results.
I never cared about defragmenting XFS, either, until I failed to pre-create my disk files for Windows XP. Criminy.
Re:Power of threadjack (Score:3, Interesting)