Linux - Conflict In The Hood

That’s the beauty of having 350+ choices to choos from. There’s distros for those that love to be able to tweak it 24/7, and there’s distros for those who want their grandmother to use it. There’s no need for the entire community to shift their distros to accomodate one ideal.

Hi Jeremy,
Good point.
Ron

That’s really funny, as I consider Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSuSE, and Mandriva almost completely ready for the masses - and designed to be that way. The Debian, Slackware, YellowDog, etc are for the tweakers.

I would disagree completely with Ubuntu and OpenSuSE being at all for tweakers. I would say that if you got a good install, without problems, it would, with quality hardware, to be hard to screw up. On the other hand, a bad Linux install, just like a bad Windows install, is no fun whatsoever.

After all OpenSuSE is designed for corporate drones to use, as in point them to the machine and let them go to work. I like Ubuntu and Shuttleworth, and appreciate the buzz factor he brings to the picture, but I have always thought SuSE was the most easily understood for anyone vaguely familiar with Windows. (On the other hand, for a small child with no computer experience another flavor may be better.)

Hi Marc,
I agree. I don’t understand what all the fuss is about either.
Ron

“so grandma could use the system.”
What does that mean?
A clean install of OpenSUSE or Ubuntu seems very usable. Just like a “clean” install of XP from Dell. OTOH /getting/ a clean install probably requires an “enthusiast” - or an order to Dell, System 76, etc for a pre-installed Linux machine. (And this is generally how “grandma” gets a Windows machine too.)

But whether it’s grandma or my secretary’s niece (theoretically speaking), Windows is hardly “grandma-proof” in daily use; compared to an already-setup Linux system, Windows is probably /less/ “grandma-proof”. I say that under the assumption that grandma wants to use the computer, not act like an enthusiast and try every crazy software package she can find. In that case, grandma will still probably need to be shown how to install an application and how to find it in the Control Panel Add/Remove Apps to uninstall it. It is only a little harder to do the same in Linux, depending on the flavor. I still don’t see that either one is a clear winner.

But back to daily use…
I just recovered an XP installation that wouldn’t boot due to ~200 spyware apps, 6 viruses (virii?), and a corrupt registry. “Grandma” didn’t do anything intentional to the machine. She surfed the internet! The AV program (a well known one at that) simply failed to prevent the infection. The spyware apps were allowed free reign because no special utilities were installed to prevent it; and none were run to fix it after the fact either. (Seems that sort of things is usually beyond “grandma’s” grasp. I guess grandma’s not an enthusiast.)

How about corporations with their great (ahem) IT depts - or virtual charter schools? The one’s I have experience with are all XP oriented. AV software? Sure. After all these organizations rely on their computers, right? Anti-spyware apps? Nope!!!! I guess they are short on enthusiasts also.

And how does the normal IT dept or large consumer electronics store handle a machine with a corrupt registry and myriad of other problems? I doubt she (the theoretical secretary’s niece) would have gotten her computer back with XP intact - data, applications and all.

My perspective: whether it’s Windows or Linux, your best bet is to either BE an enthusiast or bake cookies for nearest hungry enthusiast you can find - maybe they’ll work for free.

Window’s clear advantage? More free (usually young cookie grubbing) enthusiasts are available. That’s it and that’s all it is. There are more people readily available who know Windows than there are who know Linux.

Now back to my cookies….

Hi Dan,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It brought a smile to my face.
Regards, Ron