On Saturday 26 February 2005 09:25 am, Ken Schneider wrote: <snipped>
<opinion>
How many posts do we get on this list from new users asking for help for something that is obvious to the seasoned user but -not- obvious to the newbie. And many times all they are told is to google for the answer. Instead show them the google link as well to get them started. Keep in mind that we were -all- newbies at one point in time. Think back to what you had to go through when you first started out and try to make it easier for the newbie. This will help more to converting MS users to linux in the long run.
The question is why to convert MS users to Linux? Most of average MS users use their boxes just as another appliance next to a microwave, toaster music center and such. They do very limited set of tasks - browsing Internet, reading / sending e-mail, writing / printing simple documents, listening music, sometimes watching DVDs. That is it. They don't do any programming and freak out from seeing a command prompt. Some people buying very specialized appliances like WebTv and such. They don't give their ignorant damns about what OS their appliance is running. I totally agree that for Linux users there is a great need in common system configuration standards and well written documentation. Graphic system configuration tools is a secondary issue in this respect. Just my humble opinion. Alex