Great article.
Having used Ubuntu (among others) for 6 months recently, as a family wide
"experiment", we had our share of difficulties. Most of them could be ironed
out by my taking the time to learn the necessary material. As the author stated
"the mass of consumers don't want to face these kinds of issues when upgrading
or installing software.", or while doing many other things for that matter. I
should know. I am a geek living in a house full of mass consumers. They don't
want to have to care about how things work, that's "my job" (the [not so]
reluctant admin). They just want to be able to do the things they want (use
their apps) and have life go on happily.
Lately though, I've been fighting back er...trying a different strategy. Some
of my family have their own computers and I'm having them install Windows and
update their software and install anti-virus tools and such. I'm saying "no,
you can't install xyz on the living room PC, it is adware (or spyware or etc).
Install it on your own PC if you want but you have to take the responsibility
for the consequences". I'll see how that goes.
I am inspired by my mother in law, who grew up before computers were even
newsworthy, who can install Windows, update her computer, install anti virus
software, undelete files, partition hard drives, make backups, configure
hardware, install printers etc, etc ,etc. She never had any formal traininig or
classes or anything. She just picked things up as she went.
There are a couple of points in the article with which I disagree:
1. Updates - I find the synaptic utility and the update tools to be of much
greater use than windows update because you can update everything not just the
OS and your office suite.
2. Installing software - Synaptic, and the central software repository in
general, rocks. There are more software packages included with Ubuntu than most
users would ever need. They cover a wide array of uses from entertainment to
productivity AND, in the vast majority of cases, searching the internet and
downloading an installer is the foreign way of doing things. It took me a while
to get this one, but now that I have it, I love it and Windows will most likely
never have it.
----- Original Message -----
From: Chad Avery
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2009 8:23 PM
Subject: Article: Windows User uses Linux
Here's a lengthy article on a Windows User taking Ubuntu for a test drive.
It seems pretty well rounded and honest.
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Default&articleId=9126042&taxonomyId=0&pageNumber=1
Cheers to the end of Bush and the beginning of a real leader.
--
Chad Avery
Montpelier Open Source
802.224.6481
www.montpelieropensource.com
