On Mon, 2003-11-03 at 11:52, Chris Gehlker wrote: > On Nov 2, 2003, at 11:25 PM, Alan Dayley wrote:
>
> > Let's see if I can put this in writing without rambling too much.
>
> I'm very impressed with what you wrote. I tend to agree with most of it
> because it addresses the organization. The advantages of Linux for
> organizations are undisputed, certainly by me. I think there are big
> problems with getting Linux into lots of organizations but that
> doesn't have anything to do with any flaws in Linux. It has everything
> to do with people in those organizations who owe there positions,
> formally or informally, to their ability to cope with the quirks of
> Windows.
>
> My original questioning of the value of advocacy was aimed at the
> individual user simply because that is where our advocacy is being
> aimed. And while some of the responses here have opened, or at least
> cracked, my mind, I'm not totally convinced.
>
> Let's consider a simplified taxonomy of home users:
>
> User A: She bought a Gateway at the Big Box store. It came with Win 98
> and Office Home edition. She uses it for surfing email and writing
> letters. Maybe once in a great while she brings home a spreadsheet from
> work, also a Windows only shop. She has added a few games for the kids
> and a program that prints out cross stitch patterns. She used to run
> Software Update religiously but then her computer started telling her
> when it needed updating.
>
> She has never had a problem with her computer except that the
> supposedly plug and play digital camera she got has never worked. She
> doesn't care enough to pursue it. She hates to tweak with things.
>
> User B: Lets his daughter play on the net with Kazaa. She also likes to
> DL that thing with the monkey. Every few weeks the computer stops
> working completely and his daughter bugs him to fix it. He has learned
> how to boot from the CD, wipe the drive, and re-install Windows. His
> daughter is happy and he is a hero.
>
> Some on this list have asserted there is a third type who behaves like
> A but suffers like B. I don't disbelieve them but I have yet to meet
> one. I suspect they may have cheap e-Machines that are just wearing
> out.
>
> Now I think that User A is the ideal person for Joe's approach. She can
> be persuaded of the superiority of Mozilla to IE/Outlook with one
> glance. She can be persuaded to stop sending out .doc files by simply
> pointing out that it is impolite in the same way that it is impolite to
> hold a conversation in German in a group where only some people speak
> that language. Suggest plain text or rtf. On the other hand, she
> probably emailed a document in any form twice in her life.
>
> Please don't talk to her about 'freedom.'
>
> User B really wants his computer to be a mess. His daughter enjoys
> screwing it up and he enjoys 'fixing' it. Linux has nothing to offer
> him and we really don't want him on our side. ----
I don't generally proselytize - I think that this is a peculiar
Macintosh affliction and don't want to see this chip on the shoulder
mentality permeate Linux. Linux is a choice - a Free Software choice -
at least sometimes.
Many Windows users start to get it with each new computer / OS update,
things break, they need to buy a new - ever more expensive version of
Microsoft Office, etc. and as each of the proprietary software
developers requires activation, the ability to borrow a friends copy or
take a copy home from work to install on the home computer becomes a
non-option, people start to get the idea of how much the software that
they use actually costs, the alternatives look more and more attractive.
See it's not the BSOD's, the security breaks, the viruses, the general
slowdown after installing program after program that will cause Windows
users to switch...it's always about the $$$ The funny thing is that
people don't understand how an OS, how software can be free because they
only see corporations that do this stuff and why would a company do all
that for free? People don't generally understand this, and they don't
trust what they don't understand. I often try to open their eyes when I
hear them talk about a borrowed copy of Microsoft Office, I tell them to
go to OpenOffice.org and download a legal copy for free.
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