On Fri, 9 Apr 1999, Jose Alberto Abreu wrote:
> I am a journalist, so I did some research. And, the more I learned
> about this wonderful proyect, the more I wanted to try it. But
> something stopped me (this was around a year ago):
>
> "If your VCR blinks '12:00', you should not use Linux"
I think that's overdone - my VCR blinks '12:00' occasionally because I'm
too lazy to set the clock right, and yet I'm a Linux developer. ;)
> The "you should know at least how to handle several Unix commands"
Right - you SHOULD know some Unix commands, but you don't absolutely need
to.
By today, there are desktop environments like KDE (http://www.kde.org/)
and GNOME (http://www.gnome.org/) that make using Linux rather easy.
You can do almost everything using the graphical frontends provided there,
but knowing at least the basics of the shell can be of great help.
> and the "Linux is just for geeks, nobody serious makes software for it"
> part also did much to discourage me.
That's just a M$ campaign - far from true.
> And finally a more technologically
> saavy friend of mine just shot it point blank: "You are planning on
> going to Linux? Good luck!"
He probably tried it a couple of years ago, when it was still difficult to
use.
> So I decided to delay this very important decision. I believed (and I
> still do) that Linux would eventually evolve out of the "just for
> engineers" niche and into a more mainstream (easier to use and get
> software for) status.
We're on the way there - it's quite easy to use now; getting software is
easier than it used to be, but for some special programs, it's still a bit
of a problem.
> But, before I become discouraged again, I ask you who are so much more
> able with technology, Is it finally time to switch?
I'd say it's at least time to start using it.
There's nothing that prevents you from having Linux and Windoze installed
on the same computer, and select which OS to use at bootup.
Actually most people are doing this so they don't have to switch over from
all the applications they're used to (at least not until they've found an
equally good (or better) replacement for Linux).
LLaP
bero
