Aw Bix - long time no see! I think you have nailed it on the head. People have major problems with some applications which come bundled as "standard" with a certain OS commonly in use:
*) IE used to crash and attract swarms of malware and Firefox rose from its ashes. *) Windows Media player cannot play anything which is not WMV format or basic MPEG. It can't even play a basic DVD. VLC is very popular in the Windows crowd just because of that. *) Outlook is just to memory hungry, slow and munches your emails. Thunderbird is a good contender IMHO although not necessarily the best. Do you notice the trend? If a common app sucks, people move on further if its pisses them off enough. What other apps can you think of ? -- Raphael PS. I always forget what OSS software people use on Windows since I don't use it that much myself. However, I firmly believe that once you convert the main apps they need to cross platform versions, half of the work is done to shift people to different OSes (and hence Linux). Using an OS without apps is futile. Go tell that to the Vista engineers who still struggle to run most legacy windows apps!! On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 7:03 PM, Gianluca Magro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, first time posting on this mailing list, but here goes :P > > Continuing to what Raphael said, it is a bit difficult to push linux into > people who only use their computer for fun and don't even know what e-mail > program they're using. Therefore pushing OSS first is key to achieve this. > Firefox and OOo are of course ahead of the rest and have already starting > diffusing amongst the 'normal users'... Firefox sort of seems 'cooler' than > 'you know what', and maybe that helped in pushing Firefox to these people. > OOo was pushed because it was installed on people's PC instead of office > (saves money no?). Amarok unfortunately doesn't have a Windows version yet > so these users cannot really try it and see what it's like. > > Moreover it will take some time before a stable build with features that > overcome WMP's, and only at that point can the software be pushed forward. I > would suggest pushing ahead software which has already been in the Windows > scene for quite some time. What about VLC? A video player that saves the > hassle of downloading a million and one codecs for any film or tv series you > download, which WMP can't play by default. I've heard lots of complaints > from people who can't play their videos, and always solved their problems by > redirecting them to VLC. > > Gimp is a cool piece of software too but unfortunately not many people are > into graphic design, and those who are would already use other software, so > it's quite useless. What about Thunderbird? Great email program providing > everything that Outlook provides, of course with customisable looks and > stuff which Outlook doesn't have in addition to those. > > However, what I think would be a good thing to promote, that most people > should start learning to do... would be sourceforge.net a site for > downloading any random software you'd need. People still search on google to > find software that converts MKV to AVI... they find some program that needs > you to pay, and download the program and the crack from Ares. We can show > people that searching for open source software on sites such as sourceforge > they would find programs that fit to any of their needs are work better than > the ones they spent ages to find, download and crack. > > Sorry for the long post... but this comes from a user who's still pretty new > to Linux and doesn't have much background in it, I think these are some > points that normal users MIGHT be interested in changing to :) > > - bix > > Anton Xuereb wrote: > > Seems I missed out a lot on the thread. Some > people live at their desks it seems. > > I try to but don't always manage :( > > On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 5:11 PM, Raphael Borg Ellul Vincenti > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> Personally I see it as a big sign of disrespect. Although the tshirt >> banner wasn't as bad. Seems I missed out a lot on the thread. Some >> people live at their desks it seems. I would like to voice a couple of >> things on the top of my head. >> >> First of all, I see a big difficulty in HR scene regarding Linux and >> or other system programing experience on the island. Based on the CVs >> that I see on my desk, yes we find it extremely difficult to find the >> right people to join our company. Yes we have products which are based >> on Linux let alone core infrastructure. So its crucial for us (2X) to >> find local talent which we could surely use. >> >> Second of all, Anton you forgot world domination somewhere in your list. >> :) >> >> The workshop is on the top of our list. Well it was before we lost our >> mirror and the world collapsed. Angelo, we would really like to help >> out if there is the need for OSS awareness. Even from the academic >> point of view since OSS reflects most values in academia of publishing >> your work. I am not talking about MS vs Linux here. >> >> Regarding other arguments, yes conversion starts from the applications >> which we use daily on our linux desktops and then to the actual linux >> distribution. I know that after Firefox and OOo, Amarok will be a big >> pusher in the propaganda of OSS and free (as in speech) online music >> stores. >> >> On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 2:08 PM, Anton Xuereb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> wrote: >> > that egging video was hilarious >> > >> > On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 1:59 PM, Jean Azzopardi >> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> > wrote: >> >> >> >> Yes..or some hungarian students will get creative with some dairy >> >> products. >> >> >> >> On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 13:48 +0200, Anton Xuereb wrote: >> >> >> >> > Something tells me that Ballmer wouldn't accept and for the love of >> >> > God don't expect me to stand still while so many chairs would be >> >> > waiting to be broken against his back :( >> >> > >> >> > ;) >> >> > >> >> > M >> >> > >> >> > On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 1:45 PM, Jean Azzopardi >> >> > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> > >> >> > I vote for Stallman, Torvalds, Shuttleworth and Ballmer as >> >> > guest >> >> > speakers. >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 13:30 +0200, Sebastian Cachia wrote: >> >> > > Regards OOo, I used to teach ECDL a few years back, and can >> >> > back up >> >> > > what Anton said, that a number of students had bought PCs >> >> > with OOo >> >> > > pre-installed, and either just stuck with it, or didn't >> >> > even >> >> > know they >> >> > > were using a different product. Getting people to switch to >> >> > Linux >> >> > > would be great, but as Jean said, a number of other open >> >> > source >> >> > > applications exist, and getting people to switch would be a >> >> > great step >> >> > > forward. Also once people are used to using products like >> >> > Firefox, >> >> > > OOo, Gimp, etc, the prospect of using Linux is no longer so >> >> > bad. >> >> > > Afterall, for average user, the concept of the OS is purely >> >> > at an >> >> > > Application layer, and has little to do with what kernel is >> >> > running >> >> > > underneath. >> >> > > >> >> > > Last year at Uni, we had an Introduction to Operating >> >> > Systems course >> >> > > (or something like that) by the CIS department. It is >> >> > however >> >> > > generally accepted to have been quite a disapointment. >> >> > > >> >> > > A good place to start might be some sort of Open Source >> >> > seminar, >> >> > > organized by MLUG for Uni ICT students. A list of guest >> >> > speakers could >> >> > > be identified, both from within MLUG, as well as the Uni >> >> > staff. Also, >> >> > > it is generally better to get people interested through >> >> > seeing and >> >> > > doing. Some sort of workshop, in a linux lab perhaps, where >> >> > anybody >> >> > > can bring along a laptop and be led through a given topic >> >> > by >> >> > somebody. >> >> > > Perhaps these could all be joined together to form some >> >> > sort >> >> > of day >> >> > > long event. >> >> > > >> >> > > >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > > _______________________________________________ >> >> > > MLUG-list mailing list >> >> > > [email protected] >> >> > > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list >> >> > >> >> > _______________________________________________ >> >> > MLUG-list mailing list >> >> > [email protected] >> >> > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list >> >> > >> >> > >> >> > _______________________________________________ >> >> > MLUG-list mailing list >> >> > [email protected] >> >> > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> >> MLUG-list mailing list >> >> [email protected] >> >> http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > MLUG-list mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> MLUG-list mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list > > ________________________________ > _______________________________________________ > MLUG-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list > > > _______________________________________________ > MLUG-list mailing list > [email protected] > http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list > > _______________________________________________ MLUG-list mailing list [email protected] http://linux.org.mt/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mlug-list
