Thanks for the input.... i totally agree with what you say. I only wish more people would. You see - we are into linux - why?.... because we are ready to learn and explore and adapt ourselves to suit Linux's requirements. The remaining 99% are totally not interested... They want something that gets the job done with no hassles - PERIOD. If you are gonna expect them to take time and explore and learn - best of luck.... fat chance. YES the youngsters (class 5 and 6) will lap up everything u say but class 9 and above wont. >The problem with ppl as I find is that they expect Linux & its >native apps >to behave Windows-style.... thats a wrong >expectation.... rather than >Linux being ready for you, it is more >often whether you are ready for >Linux... you needn't be a guru but >if you come expecting Windows you will >stumble.... thats exactly what is going on and you and me cant do a thing about it. (except perhaps accept the fact and create a workaround). > Linux still doesnt offer that. RH is still quite complicated. >Have you tried Caldera OpenLinux with its Lizard Installer, SuSE >with its >YaST installer... or any other distro out there.... it is >rather unfair to >comment like this after tinkering with one single >distro..... Agree - my humblest apologies.... i can only plead ignorance but if i were offered a good clean easy to use distro i would take it any day and use it. got any ideas and/or resources? >Microsoft has been monopolizing for reasons apart from ones you >mention... >had it been the only reason for their monopoly, Macintosh >would have been >the King of the Hill rather than MS.... Actually Mac had a crappy marketing strategy. Microsoft had a wider sales infrastucture and more competitive pricing. >Some of us were at your age or when we started fiddling with >Linux.... >that time we didn't have access to the Net, nor to people >who had an idea >what Linux was... I for one had no idea what RAMDAC >or Clockchip meant... >it meant that we had to learn things largely >on our own individual >effort... we didn't spend the time learning >abt Linux because it was "IN", >or because it could get us good jobs, >or we would be considered as Gurus >if we knew it well (no one in >those days would bat an eyelid if we told >them that we were into >Linux).... we did because we were curious to know >how it worked, the >fact that it was also a UNIX clone that we could afford >legally, >certainly gave us added incentive.... Right thats exactly what i'm doin (or at least trying to do.... i learnt basic and a wee bit of jscript using the docs) You have to understand .... i'm on your side.... I agree but i'm trying to be a little practical and play devils advocate. What I speak is what (in my opinion) the newbies and lay people want. If they dont get it, they simply look somewhere else.... In the end, our purpose remains unsolved (no propagation of Linux) and they are totally compfortable using bloatware and bugware etc etc etc. >AFAIK, most educationists consider children's minds to be like clean > >slates, to be conditioned in the process of schooling.... therefore >it >might make more sense on the long term to expose younger students >(say >Class 5/6/ upwards) to Linux... it is the young, fresh minds we >should >really go after.... maybe then we can reverse the situation >that you >lament. I'm sure that will work but in my opinion Linux is still a little too complex for them to handle - I know - I taught the class 5's computers for 6 months (a school extra-currricular project) - I created my own syllabus and tests and I gave lectures on everything from viruses to o/s's I even organised practical sessions. In the end my verdict on the class 5's is as follows: Most of them are very enthusiastic. But a lot of them just want to joke around and are not really interested... Almost all of them have used computers and are very comfortable with Windows. They know a lot of the jargon but are wildly dissilusioned about things like viruses and stuff) I had given these kids a test and one guy said that GUI stood for "Guys of Upper India" wierd but true. I dont know how you will be able to explain Linux to them when all they have is the superficial knowledge of computers. (Frankly they dont care about filesystems and bitcodes) If you seriously want to teach them, you will have to start right from the beginning.... i dont know if you are willing to do that. Tell me if i can help anymore.... remember i'm on our side and am just playing devil's advocate. Prateek ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/help/faq_list.html
