(note: deleting unused text in replies is nice(tm)) On Tuesday 18 April 2006 08:32, Juan Alberto Cirez wrote: > years; but rather to illustrate a simple reality (which seems to have > escaped most everyone): Windows is the number one desktop OS. Linux is
i think we all realize that. you'd have be somewhat mentally challenged not to. > not. Windows is supported by most--if not all--OEMs; Linux is not. A ditto. > blind monkey can install, and use windows productively. With Linux, on ah .. so -that's- why "video professor" makes so much money selling windows how-to cd's! and why so many people struggle daily with windows! no, the -only- reason why most people in office professions can deal with windows is because they are trained on it. and even then, most are marginally proficient. > the other hand, such monkey would need to be a bit smarter than the > average Congo gorilla(which all of us on this list are). it is precisely this out-dated viewpoint that KDE/Linux is somehow Not Ready due to usability that some continue to hold on to that i was trying to address. 3 years ago (or was it only 2?) a professional, independent study was done that put people who had only used win98 in front of either a winXP system or a KDE/Linux system. despite KDE/Linux being a wildly different OS from windows, they managed to complete the same tasks as they did on winXP with ~10% time difference with no training and on the first usage. once KDE is installed properly on a system (which is really an advanced user or a system integrator's job, much as properly installing Windows is), it's not the horrible mess it was 5 years ago. i've personally supported non-tech, average users on KDE for a number of years and have discovered that this anecdotal experience reflects the above mentioned study. there are entire hospitals, banks, record stores, manufacturing plants, etc, etc... running on KDE out there. these places are not staffed with ubermunchen (see how i brought it back to nietzsche? ;) but regular people. heck, *taco bell* is currently setting up their kde/linux deployment for in-store usage alongside their in-store linux servers. it doesn't get much more prole than that. so while we face challenges to adoption today, the ease of use issue isn't it. > Yes, we are and > will continue to make progress to make Linux easier to use to the > average user; but even then we will need the support of "Aristocratic > Society" to become a "mainstream", desktop OS. what i take issue with is the concept that big business will drive this to success rather than jump on the bandwagon post-success. this thinking leads directly to trying to pander to these people as opposed to our real user base and the next market segments that we can cross to easiest (which isn't enterprise, btw). if you think "aristocratic society" has -any- clue as to what's going on here, i suggest looking at ibm's laughably bad "workplace" linux offering or the "strategies" of companies such as dell. more good is happening right now in desktop deployment due to companies such as Linspire, Mandriva and Xandros than most of the rest. Intel is putting a huge push into these things as well. and yet -still- most of the development and vision comes from outside of -all- of these companies. where i do agree is that "big business" will eventually become the primary distribution channel through which people will get their kde and gnu/linux systems. > Also, the reason Linux has gained such respect and popularity as a > server OS is simply because Most Systems Administrators (even the > Windows ones) have a greater understanding of computer systems than the > average users (and in most cases do have a say in the kind of network > hardware/software that it is used in their environment) and can more > easily grasp the advantages of using Linux over Windows in a server > environment. for the enterprise and enthusiast markets, indeed. and so very little effort went into making Linux accessible to the average user until relatively recently. here's an interesting little tidbit to chew on though: more people in the SMB/SME space pick linux on the server when it comes with a nice GUI that's easy to point-n-click on. this happens to be because the decision makers in these situations often are not those with "greater understanding" or have to work with those without "greater understanding". > You can argue all you want about the effects of disruptive > technology and the power of grass-root movements; but not until either > the average users becomes more computer literate or the OEMs throw their > support behind Linux 'en masse' will Linux become all that it was meant to. they will be the delivery channels (no surprise there), but have had very little impact in the development, improvement and current market demand for desktop linux. continue your "we need the angels" dreaming if you wish, but we would be waiting forever for nothing if we took that route. even the people at Intel and IBM have started to understand this and are working at supporting and stimulating the grass roots side of the projects. and what do you think google's SoC is all about? as scary as it might be for those who believe strongly in power structure based systems, it is actually happening differently than that here (happening, not "going to happen" or "will happen") -- Aaron J. Seigo GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43 Full time KDE developer sponsored by Trolltech (http://www.trolltech.com)
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