New Guy...

[Chad LaFarge]

Hello All,

Not to waste BW, but I wanted to introduce myself to you all while I have
some free time to do so.  Also, most of this is leading somewhere, so please
be patient.

My name is Chad, and I'm a Windoze-alcoholic. <hi Chad>  I'm not dry at this
time, but have been experimenting with Linux for a few weeks now, and I
really feel as if I will be able to get on the wagon, soon.

I'm a consultant in the KC area.  My experience includes web design, web app
design (html, asp, javascript, vbscript- notepad, sql, access, photoshop),
technical writing, software documentation, instructional design (word,
powerpoint, photoshop, visio, animation master 99) and technical,
manufacturing and soft training.  I hope to drop many of the latter, in
favor of the web app design gigs I've enjoyed more recently.

I've been reading everything I can on Linux- news, newbie books, programming
books, community sites- and the things I'm reading indicate that we are
trying to make Linux a "user friendly" OS, that is approachable to the
masses.  In my experience as a newbie, I have a few concerns that I thought
I could share with you in this forum.  Here are my concerns:

1. My clients, for the most part, use Windoze, therefore I have to use
Windoze (when in Rome... blah blah blah)
2. There seems to be a lack of accurate, true-to-format conversion tools for
the ms apps (largely considered the standard).  I know the StarOffice and
Applixware offer compatibility, but I don't know how closely they stick to
the format, nor could I afford to risk betting on them.
3. Configuration in those gosh-derned black screens is not going to please
my Aunt Terry... not very approachable.  I know that many distributions use
a GUI installer, but it still lacks good SAMBA for my Win98 workgroup with
the wife's PC, and sound card support.
4. All the distributions I have include a vast array of packages, with which
none I am familiar.  I running through the list, I -know- that I have
multi-redundant apps, and it kills me to trade off the space with no payoff.
Admittedly, they have put in the hours to include a short description of the
packages, but there does not seem to be a source for feature comparison that
is readily accessible to the user.
5. FUD (sorry, I like to work in "5"s)

I'm excited about getting into it, and I don't think that these obstacles
are insurmountable.  In fact, I know that some are being addressed in
up-coming versions of Kernel, XFree86 and Window Managers/Desktops.  Just
throwing out some food for thought.

The most encouraging things to me are GIMP, Apache, Perl and PHP.  many of
my skills can be ported to these apps relatively painlessly, but there are
still holes.

BTW, do you guys have the Linuxcare Bootable Business Card?  I'd like to be
able to demo Linux for my family in Jefferson City, but they won't make the
trip to see mine, and I'm not -about- to drag my PC to them.

Hope to hear from some of you soon, and I hope that we can learn a little
from each other while kicking this puppy around.

Chad LaFarge

No animals were harmed during the drafting of this email.