Derek Martin wrote:
> What would your mom use it for? Probably e-mail and office type
> stuff, right? So you install Netscape and Koffice or
> Wordperfect or whatever for her (or StarOffice if she REALLY
> needs MS compatibility), and my questions are:
>
> 1) ease of installation: Did she install Windows?
This has been my counter-point since I first heard the argument.
End-users, home users, etc. Almost NEVER install their own OS. If their
system dies, they put in a CD that automatically formats the drive and
re-installs everything from the factory default. Maybe that is what
Linux needs. An auto-recovery disk.
> 2) ease of maintenance: What maintanence? Once she's got an
> account, and you've set up her printer (did she set up her own
> printer on Windows?), what does she need to maintain to run
> e-mail and WP?
Speaking as my parents sysadmin, the answer here is no. The common home
system is bought as a complete set: system, Monitor (Sold separetly a
lot, now), printer, etc. Every cable is color coded, all of the drivers
are pre-installed and pre-configured. End users don't see the hairier
side of things, because if they did, they would be as reluctant to use
Windoze as they are to use Linux.
> 3) everyday use: The user interface for KDE/Gnome is almost
> identical to Windows, from an every-day use perspective. Once
> the apps are installed (which also really isn't that hard),
> what's the hard part there?
"Once the Apps are installed". In KDE and Gnome, pretty much everything
the home/end user needs is already there, or could be. The windows are
integrated web browsers, there are E-mail clients in the core, and there
are editors. If they need a full office suite, then those are easy
enough to get, but again, the home/end user doesn't worry about that.
They tend to depend on sales people, friends, or family members.
> I'm not just trying to be argumentative here, I'm really looking
> for answers. I keep hearing these statements being made, but no
> one has presented a plausible argument to back them up, so far.
> If you have one, I want to hear it, so that maybe I can help
> work on a fix.
Maybe what you should look at is the recovery options that Linux lacks
for when the home/end user messes something up. But again, my concerns
lean toward the sysadmins, not the end/home user. I do the work for
them, so I depend on my own knowledge, not theirs.
Just my $0.02,
Kenny
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