New Guy...

[Dana]

Hi Chad,

> ...and the things I'm reading indicate that we are trying to make Linux a
> "user friendly" OS, that is approachable to the masses.

Well, yes and no. This "we" you are talking about is an amorphous mass of
individuals that are sometimes working together and sometimes not.  As Al
Gore said "There is no controlling legal authority".

> 1. My clients, for the most part, use Windoze, therefore I have to use
> Windoze (when in Rome... blah blah blah)

And here we have the crux of the matter.  Windoze is the de facto standard
and will be for a long time.  Just being a superior product to Windoze will
not
be reason enough for most people to change to Linux.  It has taken years and
many billions of dollars to get the workforce trained to the point where
using
Windoze, Word and Excell is now not even considered a special skill but
merely
the minimum requirements for almost any worker.  Business is not going to
switch
to a new product easily.

> 4. All the distributions I have include a vast array of packages, with
which
> none I am familiar.

This reinforces what I just said.  There is a steep initial learning curve.

Does this mean that I think that Linux is doomed and we should all just give
up now?  Not only no but HELL NO.

However, I do feel that Linux for the average user will develop much faster
in
parts of the world that does not yet have Windoze as the establishment
operating system.  Linux, in the US, will be more for the back office and
the
desktops will be dominated by Windoze.

All this is said in full knowledge that predictors of the future are almost
never right.:)

Dana Smith

668: The Neighbor of the Beast

----- Original Message -----
From: "Chad LaFarge" <chad at clafarge.com>
To: "KCLUG" <kclug at kclug.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 12:21 AM
Subject: kclug - New Guy...

> 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.
>
>
>
>
>