On Tue, 7 Dec 1999, Bruce Perens wrote: > Folks, > > I don't think we have to evaluate Linux _relative_to_windows_ when we talk > about user-friendliness. It is sufficient to look at Linux and realize that > there is much that could be improved and would make the naive' user's life > easier without making life more difficult for the rest of us.
The "relative to Windows" bit isn't the important part, but it does matter. The important thing is merely to get a system that Joe Sixpack can use. However, the sad truth is that at this point in time, Joe Sixpack is also Joe WinIdiot. Unless something looks like an attractive __alternative to Windows__-- for that is precisely how Joe WinIdiot will view anything !Windows-- he will not switch. So, in this particular world that we live in, the only way GNU/Linux will even -get- into the naive users' lives is by using Windows as a yardstick. That's just the way things go. (As a side-note-- look at what the commercial GNU/Linux dists that are targeted at "desktop" users are doing. They're impersonating Windows! There's a reason.) I don't like Windows and I don't like using it as a yardstick. But unless we want to lose the war to the profiteers, we're going to have to act now to create a 100% (or as -damned- close as humanly possible) free-software GNU/Linux dist that WinIdiots will like. As for the "help naive users without hurting the rest of us" bit-- yeah, of course. We should look for ways to accommodate all. But there are always ways to add user-friendliness without screwing real hackers if one's clever enough, so that doesn't negate the very real need to take immediate action towards making 100% free GNU/Linux systems feasible for Joe Sixpack, as well as J. Random Hacker. > > Thanks > > Bruce > -- = Jon "Caspian" Blank, right-brained computer programmer at large = .--------------------------------------------------------------------. | Freelance coder and Unix geek / Founder, The Web Union (twu.net) | | Information wants to be free! Visit www.gnu.org. | | WANTED: Writers who share the GNU philosophy. www.forsmarties.net. | | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | | E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://caspian.twu.net | | Send a short message to my cell phone: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | `--------------------------------------------------------------------'
