http://www.linuxworld.com/site-stories/2003/0401.tsu_p.html
Another viewpoint in the "is Linux ready for the office desktop sweepstakes" brouhaha. I find myself in entire agreement with the author -- the geek viewpoint that like spinach, installation pain is fundamentally good for you may be right -- but as far as gaining converts for the desktop, it is dead right -- like the man going on a green light when an out-of-control truck is coming through the red. What most IT people [myself included, much of the time] fail to understand is that people want to do things *with* their computrers, not *to* them.
That's a major culture gap which has to be crossed daily, and lots of Linux mavens are having real trouble with it. Be assured, Bill Gates & Co. have no trouble with it at all, which may go some way in explaining relative market shares for the desktop.
Posted by jho at June 9, 2003 08:38 PMThere's something I miss in the frequent discussions of how easy/difficult it is to install/migrate/use this or that version of Linux: a baseline or control.
I've had my share of really irritating Linux experiences. You know what? I've had a lot of really irritating Windows experiences too. I just get a bit put out by articles that devote go on and on about successes and failures with Linux... A careful reading may indicate that the problems were pretty minor, but mere presence of the whole apparatus makes it seem like dangling one's toes in the Linux waters is a perilous adventure.
I wish they'd include a Windows version or two in the comparisons. My guess is that this particular comparison would show Windows in a favorable light, and I have no problem with that.
It's like when the media cover some high-profile indictment. The individual may be guilty or not guilty -- that's what we have trials to determine -- but in the public eye, he or she is already tarnished... Like, I wonder what would be the results of a poll conducted tomorrow morning about Martha Stewart. How surprising would it be to find out that a significant portion of the populace believe that they saw on CNN that she's guilty of insider trading and obstruction of justice?
Posted by: Brad Gadberry at June 11, 2003 12:36 AM