Uh huh, Pankaj, before you get into a frenzy about Linux being used by
evry tiny-tot around, let me tell you about an incident which had happened
a few days back to me.
I met this old friend of mine after a number of years. When I told him
that I was working in a computer related company, he told me excitedly
that he is into computers too!! I was surprised coz' he was generally a
technophobe. So I asked him what exactly was he upto. And he told me that
he had just got a computer assembled and got the "latest" windoze and
other apps installed on it. Infact he has himself installed most of
them. Nowadays, he types all his official letters himself and even makes
birthday cards himself. He does office accounting work on Excel etc.
I was aghast at first. Another guy down to M$!! But just before I was
about to tell him about the alternative heaven(of course Linux), I
stopped. I tried to think what he would have to do to get exactly the same
thing going in Linux. After all he doesn't want to be a techie. He just
has to get his job done.
His steps would have to be:
1. Get hold of a Linux CD. Obviously I would recommend a Redhat CD to a
beginner like him. Mandrake is relatively difficult to find and getting
mandrake RPMs easily is relatively tougher. I would not even think of offering
Debian CD to him.
2. Then he should try installing the stuff himself. Granted, I could do
that for him too, but since he installed Windoze himself ...
3. He should learn what partitions mean. Coz Redhat installer brings him
to this awfully complicated screen with numbers to write, and messages
everywhere that if you want a good computer these numbers better be
good. Help!
4. Ouch! I forgot to tell him that he should skip the X configuration(X
who?) during installing. Coz, he has one of those Darn SiS cards. The
computer blocks up. Strange characters appear on the screen and the
computer hangs. I get a call, "Sandip! tera linux mera computer kharab kar
diya". I patiently tell him to start all over again skipping the X config this time.
5. Ok. The stuff is installed. Now he reboots and relogins and starts Xconfigurator.
It doesn't work. So I told him to try the mailing list archives to get it running. He
has to connect to the Net for that and for that ............
The list goes on. PPP connection, Printer installation, Wordprocessors, Spreadsheets,
Video problems, etc etc.
I know all these can be handled with a bit of reading and asking, but why should he do
that? He is just an enduser who wants to get his job done...Windows doesn't make him
get a comp. sc. degree to use it!!
No, I don't think Linux is ready yet for prime time. It's good only for programmers
and their desktops.
Regards,
Sandip
--
Sandip Bhattacharya
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
DSF Internet Services Pvt. Ltd.
ICQ: 38380743
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