> Someone said to me that, in his opinion, Linux was not yet ready for home
> consumer use. It is intended, he believes, more for corporate use and for
> those who have extensive computer experience than for home use because of
> the steep learning curve that peoople like myself are encountering when
> trying to use it.
>
> What does the membership of this list think of this viewpoint? Are there
> any list members besides myself who are endeavoring to use this op system
> at home?
The average person uses the computer as purely a tool. They are not
concerned with how the os works, how software works. As long as they can
get tasks a,b,c done, all is fine. Right now, I don't see Linux catering
to this group. Frankly, applying patches and compiling is very grassroots
and unless some wrapper were designed for this so that it looks more like
the typical installation people expect, they will shy from it.
However, the larger issue is that Unix flavoured os's have a philosophy
behind them different from windows. Unix has typically relied on small
utilities and pipes. It's only with the relatively recent advent of things
like office suites that this is beginning to change.
I think a lot of people involved in computers, or those that have a desire
to learn more, realize that they're the minority. This isn't good, or bad.
This is the way it is. And if the computing habits of the general public
are not going to be acknowledged, and if all of the experts out there
think that they must persuade everyone to be Linux afficionados, then
nobody is going to benefit.
mk
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Never read a book that is not a year old.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Martin Krzywinski
System Administrator
Center for Integrated Genomics
BC Cancer Agency
600 West 10th Avenue
Vancouver, BC V5Z 4E6
tel: (604) 877-6086
fax: (604) 877-6085
http://www.cigenomics.bc.ca
