The inevitable eventual cost of computers.

[Alex Dean]

On Jul 27, 2010, at 3:02 PM, Matt Graham wrote:

> From: Daniel Stasinski <daniel at avenues.org>
>> On Tue, Jul 27, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Wayne Davis
>>> Until linux becomes MUCH more plug & play, the
>>> "average" consumer will balk.
>> the conclusion we both came to is that Linux will never be accepted
>> until it *IS* Windows.
>
> Pretty much.  Most people tend to learn one way of doing things,  
> then blindly
> follow that way and never question it or think of how it could be  
> improved.
> They they freak out when something they don't expect happens.

I'll take a bit of issue with this characterization.  While I agree  
with the core of what you're saying, I don't agree with the value  
judgement implied by phrases like 'blindly follow'.

I think there are two important factors:
  * For the most part people *don't care* what OS their computer  
runs.  They don't want to know what an 'OS' is.  They want to do other  
stuff like email, web, chat, spreadsheets, etc.
  * Again, for the most part, people want the stuff they don't care  
about to be familiar and not change much.  The less attention it  
demands, the better.  So, I think the assessment that "Linux's chief  
failing is that it is not Windows" is entirely correct.

Now here's where I think maybe we differ: I think this is entirely  
reasonable.  We all have limited amounts of time and attention, and  
it's impossible to care about everything.  We all have to make  
decisions about what we're going to pay attention to, and what's going  
to fade into the background.

For me, computing is definitely in the foreground.  But my car isn't.   
Gearhead friends are amazed I really don't care how much torque my car  
has or whatever.  I don't care about going fast.  I don't care about  
making noise.  I don't care about having lots of chrome and stuff.  I  
just want to drive around, and the less I need to pay attention to the  
car, the better.

The people who are using Windows by default are, I strongly suspect,  
passionate about *something*.  It's just not computers.  I think it's  
a mistake to approach this as a personal failing on their part.

alex