Gee, my Linux installations work right out of the box. Even when some tweaking
is required, I've been able to get onto the web and go looking for help. And
I've never had to dive around in drawers looking for old CDs and floppies.
By and large my experience has been the same.
Perhaps not, but sooner or later they do reformat and reinstall -- sometimes
frequently -- often at the suggestion of MS tech support. Perhaps 2000 and XP
are better in this regard, but it has always been the standard fix for the
Win9x series.
I had Dell support walk me through this a few months ago on a friend's laptop (I'm primarily a Mac user) and was amazed at what a difficult process it was. Better with XP than older OSes, though. Wiping and reinstalling has always been a standard, fairly easy tool in my troubleshooting arsenal on the Mac side. That aside, I'd love to see some numbers on this. My impression from Windows users I know is that they generally don't reinstall. They get a fresh copy when they get a new machine.
In the words of the old song, it ain't necessarily so. You are assuming that
(1) the user has not changed any hardware since the OS was loaded at the
factory, (2) the component manufacturers have not updated any drivers since
releasing it to either MS or the machine builder, and (3) the user has the
driver CD -- it didn't get lost, the cat didn't eat it, the machine builder
didn't include it, the drivers were installed in a special partition on the
original HD which just went belly up.
Although it's been several years since I last installed Windows, I remember
that once I had the system up and running, the next task was to go to each
hardware manufacturer's website and get the latest drivers. (More reboots,
too. Oh joy.) Then, as each bit of software was installed, I had to get the
latest updates for them. Bit of a pain, especially on dialup. Many hours of
totally unproductive time. And now you know why I no longer have Windows
installed here.
Fair points all. However, when a Windows user is in this position he usually has to persevere due to a lack of other options. A new Linux user can always give up and go back to Windows, something I'd like to prevent :-)
Some thoughts:
(1) Give them a copy of Knoppix (or Mandrake Move or whatever...). It's not
only a quick and easy way of determining any potential conflicts between
their hardware and Linux, but it is an excellent introduction to Linux.
Here's my concern about Live CDs: In older machines with slower CD drives, they're awful. It takes about 10 minutes for the distros I've tried to give up loading OpenOffice. I'd hate for that to be someone's first impression of Linux.
(2) Does the term "install fest" ring a bell? Yeah, it's a pain schlepping a
monster tower and the other hardware clear across town, but they'll get some
very smart people to get them up and running. BTW, there is no reason that
install fests have to be run by a group -- perhaps you could volunteer to get
them started.
It's a thought. However, I'm recommending in an article which means I'm talking to a geographically distributed set of people, so it may not be a complete answer.
(3) (Here I play the elitist card) Their unwillingness to either take a chance
on something new, or to expend some effort learning something new could be an
indication that Linux _is_not_ the solution for them. You might get their
interest aroused, however, by pointing out how little time we Linuxers spend
defragging or chasing viruses, or how a Linux distribution includes a whole
lot more that just an OS with a few accessories. You might also point out how
much free help is available to them -- including this mail list.
Again, makes sense but:
- I'm hoping I can convince at least a few people that it's relatively easy to install, easier to use than Windows, more secure than Windows, and less expensive than Windows, as well as (as you suggest) easier to maintain and administer. If I can do that and the install really does turn out to be easy for them, maybe it'll stick. I'm sure I will have a lot of people dismiss the recommendation on the grounds that it's not worth it. Fine. So then my next unfortunate task is to help them secure their Windows systems.
- The free help thing is a funny one. My impression is that many users may be reluctant to get their help from mailing lists, forums, etc. It's what I do 90% of the time, even on commercial products, because it tends to result in more knowledgeable answers (not to mention less time spent on hold). But I think there's an idea of a "official" answer that people are too attached to.
Curious -- Mandrake is generally regarded as easy to install. I've tried
several different distros over the summer. The only one that gave me a hard
time was Xandros. It decided that my my modem was a Winmodem and refused any
attempts to change its mind. The modem, a Zoom 2761 serial external unit, was
deeply insulted. Hell, even Windows was willing to use it, and without a
driver.
Xandros installed great on my Dell...in terms of hardware and networking support, possibly the best I tried, though the NTFS resize option was disabled for some reason. However, while it does provide a good overall experience there are some usability and functionality reasons why I think some other distros may be a better choice.
Anyway, my partition map is hosed but once I get that worked out I'll take Derek's suggestions regarding USB and see if I can't get Mandrake to install. Thanks for the help.
--Dave
____________________________________________________ Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com Join the Club : http://www.mandrakeclub.com ____________________________________________________
