On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:53:56 -0600 Randall D. Hobbs disseminated the following:
> This isn't a remark to Jack - this is mostly to those who don't agree with > what he said... Remember when you guys were new to Linux? I'm sure about 90% > of you thought the same way. I know I did. I came into the Linux thing a little late, I must admit, but thinking back, I can remember only excitement at discovering something new, something that offered me a choice for once, without having to spend thousands of dollars or snagging 'warez'. I felt...liberated ;-) > There is a substantial learning curve to Linux - Only for people who are 'used to' Windows, or who have more esoteric requirements than browsing the web, reading their e-mail, burning a CD, enjoying multimedia content, etc. Those that have little or no experience with computers show no difference in their 'learning curve'. The facts simply do not show the end user having any more difficulty, overall, with installing and using the Linux desktop. Mandrake, Suse, Xandros, Libranet, all offer desktop solutions that are consistently rated very high in terms of ease of use. Just read the reviews: http://distrowatch.com/ > you cannot go to a software store and buy software for Linux (at least not > that I've seen), and when you purchase a printer, video card, or any number of > other computer related hardware, it's Windows that they support, not Linux. > There are still lots of things that are lacking in Linux - mostly due to the > fact that the companies who build the hardware get locked into providing just > Windows drivers for it, and so it leaves it to people who have no real > knowledge of the hardware to try to write drivers for it in Linux. Yes, Linux > has come a long way - but it still doesn't have that "easy installation" and > total all around support for hardware that Windows has. ...which is the crux of the response to the 'not ready for prime time'. As one would expect, such a characterization has some peoples' hackles up, eh? -- JoeHill / RLU #282046 / www.freeyourmachine.org 10:06:20 up 100 days, 10:58, 5 users, load average: 0.27, 0.07, 0.02 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ "President Bush is asking Congress for $80 billion dollars to rebuild Iraq. And when you make out that check, remember there are two L's in Halliburton." -- David Letterman
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