Desktop Linux

[zscoundrel]

That is a fabulous idea Jim, and a goal of 10 is a good - if perhaps 
aggressive - goal.

I have been ruminating on this lately and have discovered several things 
which give me hope in the cause so I will share them here.

The first thought came to me earlier this week when I took my dual-boot 
laptop to work to show a co-worker how slick Linux really is.  He was 
impressed by the interface, dual boot, availability of a Windows 
emulator, but mostly, he was impressed with the graphical interface.  

During the course of our discussion I realized that I have not NEEDED to 
compile an optimized kernel since RH 6.0.  While this may not sound like 
a big deal, this is news because the bulk of the everyday users will not 
want to recompile a kernel to get the software to perform well, and half 
of those will never be able to figure out how to do it anyway.

The second came while talking to my mother about the new Gateway she is 
buying.  to replace the old P2x233 that has 4 different versions of AOL 
and about 666 el cheapo games and applications loaded on it.  Gateway 
was giving her the hard sell to buy the machine with XP preloaded - 
Ugh!!!  With all the horror storys about the registration problems, I 
just don't think I can let someone get locked into  software license 
extortion.

The third came this afternoon when I finally got around to upgrading 
netscape 6.01 to 6.21.  I have been pretty down lately because of the 
number of problems with the beta version of N6.  Plug-ins that couldn't 
be found, total app lock-ups with JAVA or 128 bit secured sites.  These 
problems that even baffled tech support when it was first released 
because we would find the problem and fix it only to have it happen 
again.  Well, 6.21 fixed the problems and I am amazed at how little 
'Linux' skill it took for me to accomplish the install.  

None of these may seem like a major event, but all three things combined 
have convinced me that Linux IS ready for prime time.  So, I am going to 
see if I can figure out how to get a windows emulator running (I was 
never interested before - it always seemed like cheating!) to facilitate 
all those 'el cheapo' games and apps that my mother can't seem to live 
without and then I am going to put Linux up on her old PC after a 
complete fdisk.  This, my friends, is a MAJOR milestone.  I have not put 
an OS on one of her PC's since DOS 5.0!!!  

Jim Herrmann wrote:

>I wrote this and sent it about the time the list went down.  I felt it was 
>important enough to save and resend.  I hope you enjoy reading it.
>
>
>
>I'd just like to comment on all the threads about Linux vs. Windoze on the 
>desktop.  I really think this is an important thread, or threads, that do(es) 
>deserve a great deal of discussion.  The desktop environment is really 
>important.  Anyone who was in IT when the PC came about should recognize 
>this.  In the 80's everyone had a terminal either on their desk, or perhaps 
>even in a shared room of terminals where one had to leave their desks to go 
>get on the computer.  Slowly a few PCs filtered in doing stupid little 
>unimportant things, and they were mostly pooh-poohed by the IT (actually back 
>then it was the "DP") staff.  Those damn things will never replace the 
>Mainframe/DECVax/Unix Server.  Well, the people who could afford PCs, i.e. 
>upper management who had lots of disposable income, started getting PCs at 
>home, and what did they run?  DOS and later Windows 3.1.  These management 
>people started asking their technical people why they couldn't have one of 
>those new fangled typewriters on their desk.  One thing led to another and 
>the next thing you know a little known company called Micro-Soft makes a few 
>clever marketing and licensing moves, and boom!  They are on the verge of 
>world domination.  Don't underestimate the power of the desktop, the home 
>user desktop, to influence the world of computing.
>
>Linux is making in roads in a somewhat different way.  It is starting above 
>and below the desktop.  It is a killer server OS and is also becoming a very 
>important player in the upper end of embedded devices.  For Linux to make in 
>roads into the desktop market, it will take grass roots support.  It will 
>take people in Linux User Groups all over the world advocating the use of 
>Linux to their friends, relatives, and co-workers.  It will require those 
>advocates to "give back" to the open source community, from which they 
>benefit so greatly, by giving a copy of Linux to some of those friends, and 
>helping those friends out when they have trouble.  It means burning CDs and 
>giving them away, answering phone calls, going to peoples houses to help them 
>with installs, answering questions, assisting with kernel or distro version 
>upgrades, demonstrating how to install a new RPM, showing them that it's not 
>really that hard to do compiles in Linux (my 11 year old figured it out after 
>I showed him once).  It will take time.  Calendar time, and people time.  The 
>most valuable gift you can give anyone is the gift of time.  Spend some time 
>talking to your friends and relatives about how great Linux is.  Spend some 
>time with them helping them find that elusive video driver that allows their 
>17 inch monitor to display something better than VGA.  Spend some time with 
>them tracking down the library they are missing when they try to run TuxRacer 
>and it fails.
>
>I would like to challenge each and every one of you on this list to set as a 
>goal, to help at least 10 people to convert to Linux by Christmas of 2002.  
>That's less than one each month.  If every one of you did that, there would 
>be at least 2000 *new* Linux users in KC by next year.  If every one of those 
>did the same thing the following year, there would be 14000, and in five 
>years, if this trend continued, the entire city would be converted to Linux.
>
>I realize that's a bit over optimistic, but I think you see my point.  Linux 
>is a great OS, and a pretty damn fine desktop operating system!  Tell 
>everyone you know.  Make them aware that there is an alternative to the 
>M$-Hell they've been in.  Let them know that they *can* say NO to paying 
>continuing extortion fees, and that you can help them make the switch.  In 
>fact tell them about KCLUG, and that we'll ALL help them make the switch!  :-)
>
>Advocate freedom!
>
>Peace, Love, Linux, and Happy Holidays,
>Jim Herrmann
>President, Heart of America DB2 Users Group
>
>
>

-- 
At 20, I was liberal, because I had nothing to lose and so much to gain.
by 40, I was conservative, because I had so much to lose and so little to gain.
Isn't it amazing what 20 years of hard work and experience will do for ones' point of view?