ease of use debate

[Jim Herrmann]

Here's the way I see it, and the reason, or at least one (or two) of the 
reasons that I got into using Linux.  I think that it's only been within the 
last year that linux distros have gotten to the point that they are usable by 
"power users" meaning those that know the difference between AOL and the 
Internet, or that know what the word "Operating System" means.  I think that 
the latest distros are perfectly usable for reasonably competent, computer 
literate citizens.  I think that for the regular users (those who don't know 
that AOL or MSN is not required to gain access to the internet) to ever be 
able to use Linux, it must come preinstalled on a computer that you can buy 
at Best Buy or Wal-Mart.  Everything all setup and working, and plug and play 
and all that.  Yes, Linux has a ways to go before "dumbed-down" versions like 
that are widely available, but this is only a matter of time.  We're talking 
probably months, not years.

I got into Linux, because I see it having a really good, sound, 
technologically superior base to start from, with a distribution model that 
can't be stopped.  I see it in five years being a major force in the 
computing world.  In the home as well as in the enterprise.  Now, in five 
years when companies start looking for data base administrators with Linux 
experience and paying $100 an hour (or more) for the priviledge of using that 
knowledge and experience because they can't find anyone else that has that 
knowledge, I want to be there and be ready to take advantage of the 
situation.  I have never been one to rest on the knowledge I have, because I 
know that in five years, it will be obsolete.  If I want to continue to grow 
my career, I need to continue to grow my knowledge.  Right now Linux is a 
puzzle to be figured out, a skill to be gained, knowledge to be acquired.  
I'm willing to bet my career that the effort that I put into learning all I 
can about Linux right know will pay off down the road.

Yes there are still rough edges to be polished, but when you consider how far 
KDE, for example, has come in just four years, I can't wait to see where it's 
going to go in the next four years.  I will guarantee you the advances of 
open source projects will far outstrip any advances coming out of Redmond 
(I'm not talking about the new distro here either)  :-).

The other reason I have come to Linux, and this is the moral or philosophical 
reason, is that I simply refuse to be quietly assimilated by the MS-Borg.  I 
will not go gently into that good night!  I will fight for the right to live 
in Freedom!

Peace, Love, and Linux,
Jim Herrmann