On 11/30/05, Otto Kekäläinen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ==> spread Firefox and OpenOffice.org > Switching from IE to Firefox is a small and painless task, and thus imposes > very little stress on the user. Switching from MS-Office to OpenOffice.org > requires more work in converting documents, but still the cognitive stress > level stays low because the option of switching back to MS-Office temporary > is available. Finally, for a user that already knows Firefox and > OpenOffice.org going into Linux will be much less painful, since the user is > no longer required to learn everything new at once.
This point is spot-on, and is precisely what made my recent switch from XP (relatively :) painless. I've been preparing for a Linux-switch for the last two or three years, subconsciously at first, but consciously for at least a year. Piece by piece, I freed myself from relying on Windows-only software. I'd been using Firefox/Mozilla and/or Opera for a number of years simply due to the superior user experience they offer, but only last year did I start using OOo and Gaim full-time. Gmail gave me (IMO) a better interface than Outlook, so I no longer a specific mail client. But I had to want to change; there was no dire need to. I could have gone on using Windows and those apps. Worms and spyware weren't really bothering me, as I used a Limited account on a day-to-day basis, kept Windows updated and scanned for crapware frequently. It became somewhat of an ideological thing for me... something that I doubt the average user cares about. But yes, having familiar apps (installed by default!) made Ubuntu feel like home rather quickly. I'm not sure the average user (who uses IE, official AIM/Y!M clients, Office, etc.) should be expected to take the entire plunge at once. Everett Guerny https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EverettGuerny -- ubuntu-marketing mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-marketing
