Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4570 mails)

["Kai Ponte" <kai@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On Monday 14 November 2005 07:16 am, Kevin Donnelly wrote:
> > On Monday 14 November 2005 03:21, Steven T. Hatton wrote:
> > > Don't try to get the average secratary to try Linux.  It's not
ready for
> > > that kind of use.
> >
> > Steven, I do wish you'd stop flogging this horse, which died several
weeks
> > ago.  
> 
> I don't agree with you.  For one thing the thread has taken many turns.
> 
> > And the above in particular is just bunkum.  I actually know of one 
> > "average secretary" who is doing just that, and my wife (who can't even
> > remember where she's saved files) gets along perfectly well.
> 
> Yes, perhaps she can use it, but what happens when she needs to
prepare or use 
> an Excel spreadsheet?  

I agree this needs to be actively discussed and in a neutral fashion.
The argument could degenerate into an "advocacy" forum, but hopefully
will be kept above-board.

I happen to agree with the current state of usage. There are many things
which work great in *nix desktops. (I won't even agrue servers, since MS
has no valid server offering.)

Secretaries (and other non-geek workers) can mostly use Linux these days
without assistance. As evidenced by my family members and friends using
Linux systems, they are able to perform most tasks with ease.

There are - however - a few sticky points which IMO are causing the mass
adoption necessary. First off is the lack of a unified look/feel for
applicaitons. This is an issue in Windows apps, too, but more pronounced
in *nix desktops. Take - for example - the file open/save dialogs in
Gimp vs. the same in OpenOffice. As another fine example is the sorry
state of printer management in Linux. Drivers aside, there needs to be
something done to make printing easier from the desktop. For example,
opening the printer manager and then requiring a password to reset jobs
is not user-friendly. (Oh, and it apparently can't be the same password
as root's.)

Now, I figure that - instead of just whining - I should do something.
First off, I'm putting together an employee forum here at my work site
(roughly 400 people) where I plan to introduce Linux and the concept
behind OO apps. (Open source, not object oriented.)  Second, I'm doing
my best to learn C++. As I do, I'll start seeing how I can help the
aforementioned projects obtain a better user-level functionality.


-- 
kai ponte
www.perfectreign.com

linux - genuine windows replacement part