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Weblog:   To push desktop Linux, radical shift may be required
Subject:   Control issues...
Date:   2003-11-13 12:41:17
From:   anonymous2
I remember a similar article to this (I don't remember where) about Linux needing a "Killer App" that would set it apart from Windows.


But my feeling is, and has always been that Linux itself is a Killer App. Or, to be more exact, a Killer OS, in the sense that it offers so much flexibility to the end user. It gives the user full control over their computer. And depending on your skill level, that can be a good thing or a bad thing...


If you are on this website reading this article, you probably know enough to determine what you want to do with your computer without any outside help. But the average Joe Mousemover may not have that knowledge. He may need prompting.


With Linux, no one is there to prompt him, or to suggest what he might want to do with his computer. But with Windows, you start up IE for the first time, and you get directed to MSN. Hmmm, maybe he will subscribe... Start up Media Player, and you get ads from Microsoft partners. Hmmm, maybe he wants to buy a CD.


I don't want to start a flamewar, but I hope my point is being made... Windows will walk the semi- and non-skilled user through things, and prompt and suggest things for them to do, etc. Linux will not. In order to reach the desktop user, Linux must learn to do lots of handholding and suggesting. Once that happens, and it stays free and open, Linux will be the Killer OS.
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Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.

  • Control issues...
    2003-11-14 00:01:28  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

    I agree what you have said. In response, Get people using Mandrake. Mandrake WILL make using Linux a painless experience. It does hold the user's hand. If you buy it, you get a nice, easy to read manual (and 7 cd's filled with apps! That said, I use Slack), that will walk you through the install and configuration. If you just burned the .iso's, well, the install itself does offer numerous tips.
    • Control issues...
      2003-11-14 00:53:13  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

      No, wait! Get Lycoris! Wait! No! Get Lindows! Get RedHat 9!
      Maybe tone down the zealotry a little?
      • Control issues...
        2003-11-14 01:24:24  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

        Not quite sure I was being a zealot. I've never tried Lycoris or Lindows, so I can't speak about those two distro's. Never was much of a RedHat fan. RH6.2 was friggin' cool when it came out, though. Mandrake (from 8.2 anyways) worked well for me. And I've put Mandrake 9.1 on three other peoples desktops. The whole 9.2 - LG cdrom thing was a bummer. I know the fixes are out for that. Mandrake does walk you through things. It does make a lot of decisions for you (if you want it to).
        The parent post was talking about a handholding Linux.
        Still not sure where I was being a zealot.
        • Control issues...
          2003-11-14 13:54:53  anonymous2 [Reply | View]

          I have used Red Hat (now Fedora), Mandrake, SuSE, and even Solaris for Intel on my various desktops. And they all have their varying levels of installation ease. I found Red Hat and Mandrake to be the easiest to install since they did a lot of handholding on the installations.

          But what I was trying to say in my original post was that no distro does any handholding or prompting after the initial installation...

          Imagine you're a new linux user. Okay, so now that you've installed Red Hat, what do you do with it? Click on the Mozilla Icon? Okay. <Click> Mozilla opens. Now what? I see a Red Hat web page. What do I do with it? Click on redhat.com? Ok. <Click> Yeah, I know, Red Hat Linux page. I just installed it. What's next??? At this point, a new user would be getting bored, and would think that Linux is boring.

          Linux apps are written by and for people who look down on subscription services, online ads and spyware. But, at some levels of expertise, those ads and spyware can be a good thing. Now I am not saying that they are universally good. Far from it. I'm saying that they possibly can be good for some people.

          Linux offers much, much more choice to the end user. That's why it's generally thought of as a "geeky" operating system. For some users, though, there is such a thing as too much choice. For them, Windows will narrow the choices, or even choose for them, and those users will find that acceptable. To be competetive on the desktop, Linux must learn dial down the level of choice to meet the psychological needs of those kinds of users.
Showing messages 1 through 4 of 4.