I know where you're coming from Russ. I've been the (unwilling) appointed "Fix my computer, please" guy in the family/circle of friends. Up until about a month ago I ran a dual boot system which (much to my dismay) ended up being used as a Windows machine. Finally, after having my moments of wanting to throw the computer out the window, I upgraded my hardware and re-installed 9.0 which, for the most part, I'm happy with. (I do agree with some of his points on 9.0's shortcomings but by all means not all... especially his gripe with package selection. If he'd used the full list instead of the groupings he wouldn't have had the problem and it's clearly marked). The learning curve is the issue that is the hardest to deal with when trying to "pitch" a GNU/Linux distribution. My first home computer was a small keyboard looking thing that had BASIC commands as functions of the keyboard and hooked up to the Television. I've gone through an Atari 5400, a Comodore 64 (still, by all rights a great machine in its time) the introduction of DOS, an Apple IIe, all the way up to modern computers. Though up until the last year and a half or so my *nix experience was VERY LIMITED, I picked up on it fairly quickly for someone steeped in Windows. My whole outlook on computers is that if you don't know how they work, you shouldn't own one, plain and simple, until you LEARN. I don't know how many "tech support" calls I've received from friends who didn't even know what Windows Explorer was, what a driver was, what a dos prompt was, or even how to empty the recycle bin. On the other hand computers have become ubiquitous in our society and some knowledge of at least how to point and click your way through a basic system is needed, so I've tried to go a little easier on people. Dell, Compaq, HP, Gateway, and the like along with Windows have made it pretty easy to get a pre-installed system and get going which is both good and bad for users. Good because they can use a computer but bad because they don't understand how they do what they do. Herein lies the problem with switching to a *nix system. Even the best graphical system requires at least a basic knowledge of the command line. Mandrake's come SO CLOSE that, IMO it's the only distro I would recommend for a first time user migrating from w32, but I would not recommend it to the lady down the street who still uses a typewriter at work that just got her first machine (oooo a 500 dollar computer.. that's gotta have GREAT HARDWARE lol). 15 years ago, if Mandrake 9.0 was released, the world would look at Mr. Gates and laugh today because there was still a lot of the command line involved then. GNU/Linux would have soared. It was all a matter of timing. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing to have real ease of use, but it can be detrimental overall when it comes to total knowledge. So the way I deal with it is, when someone wants me to fix their machine I put THEM in front of it. I make THEM fix their machine with my help. This frustrates my friends at first but in the end I have to believe that I've helped them understand computers at least a little more, and many have thanked me for it. One friend is so fed up with Windoze now that she told me when she gets a computer again, she's building it herself, reading up on which hardware she should get, sitting down with me and installing a full Mandrake system... no windows at all. (She was impressed with my machine lol.) It's been a good experience for me too. I used to be quite hard on people who didn't know what they were doing, and I've learned it's better to teach than to critisize. So, in conclusion, in my opinion, this "review" was poorly written, in bad taste, and detrimental to GNU/Linux. In expecting more from the distribution than from his own knowledge, the author is perpetuating the notion that Linux is hard to learn, hard to use, and hard to adapt to, and that you shouldn't need to have to learn something before you try to use it. It took me YEARS to adapt to Windows from DOS, it took me a couple months to adapt to GNU/Linux.
Sorry for the novel. Jerry. On 05 Jan 2003 09:11:38 -0800 Russ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I am a definite newbie to the world of Linux. I have tinkered with it in > the past but always had issues that prevented me from fully jumping on > board. > > I have been dealing with Windows since I got into computers in the early > 90's. I am the guy that my friends (and their friends) call when there > windows computer goes haywire (free tech support). I am no expert on > Windows but I can find my way around and fix many of the common problems > that pop up. I have helped friends (and myself) reinstall windows more > times than I care to remember. > > I said the above just to show you that I am actually qualified to jump > in on this thread. I bought a new hard drive for the purposes of > tackling Linux again (with Mandrake9). I wanted a dual boot system > (Win98 MD9). My windows partition is still not up and running (no sound, > no Internet, video in basic mode). Mandrake9 was up and running within 5 > min after install (it took me that long to find the papers that had my > mail setting and computer name - cable internet connection). Now you > tell me which was easier to install? > > The problem comes from the steep learning curve from Win to Linux. As I > get into it again, some of it is coming back to me. I still have a long > way to go to be as efficient in Linux as I am in Windows. I do know that > I want to get away from Windows altogether. The way things look so far, > it looks like I may be able to with MD9. So I plug away. First order of > business is to tackle wine. > > I can say that if Linux continues to mature as it has and MS continues > their idiotic policies, more of us will join you. Do not be afraid of a > less than perfect review. Jump for joy for a favorable one. You are > gaining ground. > > Russ >
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