Arite i goin add my piece to this discussion....
I will first add by saying that the reason i think people fear linux... at least one of the main reasons is the geeky aspect of it. Whether we like to say it or not and no matter how hard we try (well at this time period... maybe later on when ubuntu upgrades some more) linux is not made for any ol' n00b (beginner user, just want a computer to use). Reason being first of all support. Have you ever tried googling the answer a simple linux problem before? I'm not talking about searching for things like me oh323 config stuff etc... i'm talking about how to install program on linux, how to find a certain file etc. The first thing you are met upon is a heavy case of CLI. While there ARE easier ways to do things, none of the linux users particularly write about them. Everybody writes about the CLI way to do it because as we all know CLI is greatest etc etc etc.
The n00b who comes across the website trying to learn about how to install a file on linux isnt met with "click here, here, double click here" he is instead met with "$ sudo aptitude install slapd ldap-utils ". Not only can he not understand what is being said, he cant even see what is being done. Now while we may all fight against windows all we want... the point of the matter is, windows is made for any ol person to use. You could be illiterate, retarded, super intelligent or just primary school educated, windows is made so that you should be able to solve any problems with just a few clicks of the mouse instead of 50 keyboard clicks. This is where linux loses the war. You cannot expect to gain a larger userbase when the people who are already using it SEEM to be going through hell and back just to get a simple install done.
THe other reason we are losing the war is because linux is advertised as the following things first and foremost: secure & stable. Well the fact of the matter is, if windows is an unsecure and unstable as we techies make it out to be, then people would've switched to mac(gonna get to mac soon) or linux long ago. Techie or no, if any n00b uses a computer and finds that every 3 minutes he has to restart or reboot etc then he's gonna find an alternative. Its common human intellect. Windows does fail we know, but for the average user it fails once every 2 months, and that isnt a very bad average, thats only 6 fails for the year. MOST OF WHICH people understand may have actually been their fault!
For the techies now, (however little of us exist) we find that windows fails every single day, and dont blame it on the fact that we are always trying to edit stuff in the registry and do some little things which we know might be detrimental towards the o/s, but we do it anyway. Dont get me wrong however, i'm not saying windows doesnt fail, it does, but alot of times its unfair to blame it as hard as we have been blaming it when we are the ones who caused it to fail. Most of the windows errors that are posted the average user (80% of the computer users in the world) would never even come across. If you all hate windows so much, why dont you all switch to linux?
Now I saw somebody say something about max osx being a stable alternative, rubbish. The cheapest new mac you can get is about us$1000, compared to a pc that can run xp that i can get for under $500. Money is an issue to the majority and also i have used a mac quite a few times, and trust me mac has hung up on me, mac has restarted for no reason on me and mac initially was also very hard for me to understand (well... for the first... 30 minutes at least). And i am an experienced computer user, what about any ol' guy who decides to boot it up?
Sorry for the long read guys just saying what i think. Before you come to any negative conclusions, remember i use linux myself (though not primarily) and i advocate for linux at all times. Also wrote about this in a blog i participate in linux's goals
I could've summed up this post in a few lines.... nah maybe later
ps: i ask teensicle, if you hate linux why dont u stop coming in this section? You obviously have no true interest in technology, which is obvious by the posts you have made on the forum. If you want to learn then shut up and pay attention, then ask VALID questions, actually add something useful to the forum instead of wasting everybody elses time. Sorry to tell you but just becuz u like cell phones, dont make you a techy
Last edited by Skillachi; Jul 11, 2007 at 02:41 PM.
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