Eric A. Bonney wrote:
You know...I have been giving this thread alot of thought. I think the
issue is that we the end user expect to much from Linux in general and I
don't think that the average person thinks of certain things. Like, how
long have you been using Windows? I know I have been using Windows for
basically my entire adult life, yet I just started using Linux a little
over a month ago. I realize that things are going to be much more
difficult in Linux, some because Linux is not as user friendly as
Windows, but mostly because it is new to me.
This is very true. I think an awful lot of people decide to try Linux
with the expectation that it will be a free version of Windows, which is
certainly not the case. But as far as Linux not being as "user
friendly" as Windows, I think that is open to broad interpretation.
Windows is user friendly in that it greatly limits your choices, and it
does a lot of things for you. Microsoft has made most of the decisions
for you, like what the desktop environment will look like, and you just
live with those decisions.
To me, Debian is far more user friendly because I, as the user, get to
choose exactly what I want to use and how I want to install it. If I
need something quick, it's as simple as an "apt-get install ...". If I
want to seriously fine-tune something, I can compile it from source.
This, to me, is far more user friendly. And if I don't want something,
I don't install it.
When I first started using
Windows way back when, it was difficult to do much of anything also.
I think, we the new user of Linux, need to expect issues and things to
be more difficult, but that's what this mailing list is for, that is
what IRC is for. I have had nothing but great experiences with both of
these and usually I am able to get my issues resolved with help from the
folks there and with some research on my own.
It all boils down to the fact that we have to be willing to put forth a
little bit of work ourselves if we want things to work properly, even in
Windows.
Exactly. You can't go into it thinking "I've got an hour to kill, I
think I'll install Linux and figure out how it works." It takes time,
but once you learn the ropes, the rewards are worth the effort.
- Dave
--
Dave Parker
Utica College Department of
Integrated Information Technology Services
Data Processing Office
(315) 792-3229
Registered Linux User #408177
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