Linux Project (was Linux vs. Windows and why win is winning!)

[Philip, Anil]

Sorry John, but I think you are missing the point that users use an OS to
get their personal work done simply. 
composing letters, printing out stuff, scanning pictures, running Quicken to
file taxes, sending email, faxes,
surfing the internet. Only techies care about "flexibility and power"
(analogy: are you interested in delving into the depths of your car engine?
- I'm not - I am busy programming!). 
So maybe users will stick to windows and ironically, the title of Patrick's
original post "...and why win is winning!" remains true.
thanks,
Anil Philip

-----Original Message-----
From: John Heryer [mailto:jheryer at violet.jayhawks.net]
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2001 7:03 PM
To: Brian Densmore
Cc: kclug at kclug.org
Subject: RE: Linux Project (was Linux vs. Windows and why win is
winning!)

Brian,

First off, I'm sorry, I had no intention of my post being directed at you
personaly. I just played off of your comment. Second, either you missed or
I did not state my point clearly. I feel the reason why your wife gets
frustrated using linux, was the same reason why I got frustrated when I
first started,lack of information. The tasks I had trouble with, like
getting getting my ide cdr working, comipling my kernel for the first
time.. etc.. the list could go on and on, was not because they were
difficult to accomplish, it was because I did not have or read the
adequate resources to aide in the solving of my problems. I personally
feel that recreating the ease of the windows GUI will not teach a user
how to run linux. I think the best way to help them (assuming they are
 willing to learn) is to drop them face first in the the environment,
and teach them how to teach themselves by showing where and how to find
the answer when they run into problems. But of course like most things,
that is a double edged sword... (ignorant users == job security) :-D

-- 
John Heryer
jheryer at jayhawks.net

"It is easy to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to
live after your own; but the great man is he, in the midst of the crowd,
keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson