On Sunday 16 February 2003 9:25 am, Michael Satterwhite wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "Paul Benjamin"
To: "SuSE English" Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2003 9:07 AM Subject: Re: [SLE] Linux isn't ready yet It may come as a shock to you but no one says that Linux is ready for the desktop. I don't think Linux is ready for my Aunt either.
Actually, if you look at comp.os.linux.advocacy, there are a lot of people saying it is. I'm not sure I take people on *ANY* advocacy group too seriously, however. They're fun to read, but not too realistic.
I am willing to put up with the problems because I am sick of Microsoft and every other box software "sellers" calling me a thief until I prove otherwise. I may be a freeloader who hasn't given anything back but no one is going to fine me because I lost my SuSE 8.1 box.
That's exactly the reason that I'm using Linux now, too. I don't think that I should have to explain to Microsoft why I decided to reload my hard drive.
Check in every year or so because I have seen Linux improve over the last three years and I am sure that even your middle age non-computer type would be able to use it in another three years. Then I would have never allowed not-computer types to use Windows 3.1 ten years ago, but they still did
some
how. ;-)
Actually, remembering Windows 3.1, I'm surprised it survived as a platform. Never underestimate the power of marketing, I guess.
At present I'm a beta tester. I am being allowed to join the closed beta program because I'm testing the Desktop functionalities of SuSE. What the issue is is that you have very technically minded people that look at things in a very different way than the end-user. It reminds me when I first started being a musician. I would hear a song and say woah that's cool. As I became technically proficient I went back to listen to the song and found myself saying what a stupid song, it sucks. Now, how does this relate? As I became more technical in my skills I could no longer listen to music in the same way. I would disect the piece not only on the song itself but on it's technical merits. This doesn't mean the song is bad, and for many of the listeners it was a great song. I became focused in light of my understanding and my abilities on the music differently than I used to. The same holds true for the developers. They view the system from that of a coder/programmer. They know what the system does inside and out and for them using the command line is faster and gives them better control by far. But the end-user isn't in this position and the programmers know this. The problem lays in the middleground. It's a matter of educating the end-user to be mildly proficient when using the technology and at the same time getting the programers to relate to the need for an end-user to have a simple and effective interface. This isn't easy from either end and never has been. One of the things that led to M$ success (outside of blackmailing the OEMs) is that one of BIll's paradigms was "a computer in every home" moto they had at M$. So, in order to do this they were always directing those developers to use the feedback from the end-users to see what they did and didn't find that worked for them. Truth be known, Mr. Gates holds the attitude that most end-users are idiots. But, he wants to be rich so he gives them what they want regardless of the fact that he thinks most are stupid. The Linux community has been critised for being arrogant. The truth is that they are not much different than the M$ camp in many regards except for the fact that the community is not focused on bring a product to market over making programs they themselves can use. In fact the OSS community, up until recently, pretty much designed programs that they themselves wanted and this explains why many of the programs (especially early on) were command line programs without a gui interface. It hasn't really been that long that Linux has begun to focus on the GUI in terms of an end-users interface. Most of the early gui's were stuff like blackbox, or fvwm, etc... that were designed for a coder do customize to fit their needs, The GUI as an end-user tool has only been in high gear in the Linux communtiy for about 5 or less years. Given the time that M$ has had to develop their GUI I'd have to say that Linux has made great strides in a relatively and somewhat short time. The next 18 to 24 months will be very telling IMHO. Linux is making exceptional headway in the server/enterprise sector and it has been the success in this arena that has prompted the increased developement of the Desktop. This is primarily due to the large corporations that want to extend the stability and functionality that Linux servers have to the corporate desktop, primarily to get away from M$ contracts and licenses and to cut the cost associated with them. I personally would love to see the sorts of things I find in M$ Window in Linux, namely wide spread support of gaming and all those little gadgets and programs like EAX support, multimedia keyboards, etc, etc... It's only a matter of time until this becomes a reality.... And end-users such as you and I are a large part of this. The more you see Linux used in the Office, the SOHO, and the home the faster you'll see not only those in the Linux community develop for the end-users but you'll see the OEMs for both hardware and software start to also - it's already happening in the Linux server/enterprise sector bigtime. Hence, why M$, all the while denying it, post SEC 10-Q reports stating that due to Linux they may have to cut costs and to expect lower earnings. Your particitpation in the LInux community is paramount to making this happen. Linux has a learning curve just like anything else. At the same time the developers are working hard at giving Linux greater end-user functionality while not dumbing down the system. It is how it works around here, It's what M$ can't figure out how to stop and one of the single most reasons for the acceptance of Linux. <climbs of soapbox> Just MHO, Curits :)