Re: Honest does not pay here ...

Henning P. Schmiedehausen
2003-01-07T09:48:50Z

Steven Barnhart <sbarn03@softhome.net> writes:

>On Mon, 2003-01-06 at 19:07, Andrew Walrond wrote:
>> Fine for us developers, but 99.5% of users wouldn't recognise a c
>> function if it jumped up and bit them on the ass. If it doesn't say
>> "linux supported" on the box, they won't buy it. Google? Source Forge?
>> ./configure? WTFIT?. Where is their freedom?
>>
>> Until the manufacturers start providing good quality supported drivers
>> for their hardware, binary or source, linux will stay exactly where it
>> is now; a server room tool and a hobbyists playground.
>>
>> I for one think thats a real shame

>You are just being silly. Any half-decent person (including my grandma,
>seriously!) can set up distributions such as Mandrake and now maybe even
>Red Hat. The problem I see, especially here (but atleast normal people

And that is exactly what most of the OSS advocates get wrong. They
can't. My wife (which is a physician and my prime example here
because she's in nuclear medicine and works with computers (Sun, Vax
(sic!), Windows, MacOS) all day long at work and knows quite a bit
about Unix) can't set up RedHat Linux, SuSE Linux, Windows 98, Windows
2000 or MacOS either. And I can't adjust a PET scanner which is
trivial to her. It is simply not my area of work. And your grandma
_can't_ set up Linux because when the first window pops up and asks
about "workstation / server / laptop / custom" installation, she's
lost. Because she does not _know_ what a workstation or a server
is. She has a computer for surfing and text processing.
Not a "work" station.

Yes, looks trivial to you and me. But it isn't to your grandma.

Most of the people advocating that "Linux is simple to use for
everyone" never really tried to install Linux to "everyone" and then
leave them alone just like most people do with Windows installations.

Install Linux for your grandma, show her how to use it and then don't
answer her phone calls for about two weeks. Rinse. Repeat with
Windows. You will be surprised about the outcome. Rinse. Repeat with a
non-english speaker and a localized version of Linux / Windows. You
will be surprised even more. BTDTGTT.

Regards
Henning

--
Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen -- Geschaeftsfuehrer
INTERMETA - Gesellschaft fuer Mehrwertdienste mbH hps@intermeta.de

Am Schwabachgrund 22 Fon.: 09131 / 50654-0 info@intermeta.de
D-91054 Buckenhof Fax.: 09131 / 50654-20