Why Linux will win and Micro$oft will lose

[Jim]

If you choose to read any of the responses and think that you might be wrong 
about some issues, contact me off the list and I will make sure that you are 
at least looking at something more current.  If you can't/won't install a 
current Linux distribution, my only question is "have you ever installed any 
operating system?".

We are not all geeks and techies.  I am the first to admit that I am not.  
But that never stopped me from asking for, and getting, all the help I could 
ever want.  I dare say that there are a lot of people out in the real world 
who are using Linux and don't even know it (or care).  An OS should let you 
get stuff done the way you want to do it.  Linux does

On Saturday 10 November 2001 09:17, you wrote:
>
> 1) Need to get rid off all the offshoots. For hackers, a variety of
> different styles and versions of an o.s. are great. However for someone who
> uses their computer to get email and surf the web 20 different types of the
> same thing only confuse and bore him. This is one of the big stumbling
> blocks for Linux. The first question most people ask about Linux is "What
> is the best type of Linux to use, red hat suse, caldera, ...". Sorry Linux,
> that really should not be the first big decision. At an absolute maximum,
> there should be about 3 types of Linux. One for the average user where
> everything happens automatically and only loads the basic multimedia type
> programs. The second for hackers who enjoy programming, and like to dabble
> in .conf files. The third for Server situations.

Where have you been?  That is pretty much where the market is right now.  
Slack and Debian to hack, Caldera and RedHat to serve, Mandrake and RedHat 
for workstations.  Most of the specialized distributions have a small target, 
but Slack, RH, Mandrake, and Caldera are the big kids for Intel machines.

A minimun number of types of Linux.  C'mon - dont put me in any category with 
anyone else.  I want to be able to chose my distro, my desktop, my tools, my 
apps.  I want to do things my way, not how some company tells me how to do 
stuff.
>
> 2) Not everyone wants to be a programmer. There are several signatures I
> have seen that imply the world of computers will be perfected when everyone
> programs for fun. They also imply the average person would want to go into
> a .conf file and have to add some term or variable. I would hate to break
> it to everyone, but the average computer user does not care to do much more
> than open email or a web browser and download mp3's, talk to friends,  or
> download backgrounds. Right now in order to properly configure Linux, the
> user has to be familiar with how a programming language works. I personally
> have not been able to get anything to work on my machine without typing in
> info on a file that had an "if", "for" "else", or some other programming
> language type function.

What rock are you under?  I know several computer languages but I have yet to 
use one to install Linux or to access my email or a web page or talk with 
friends or download or play music.  

The GUI tools for the non-technical users are getting better every day and 
their development is coming along nicely.  Cant say the same about some other 
OS GUI tools.  Should the geek be prohibited from getting into his own rc or 
config files.  I think not - MS thinks so.

The GUI tools give the non-geek user a way to access the things that can be 
changed.  Most of them also have a nice little help button just in case you 
dont know for sure what something does.  But that implies that you are 
running a relatively current version of a Linux distribution and that you can 
think for yourself.
>
> 3) Should not need to know what an HOW-TO is. I personally think this is
> the absolute biggest stumbling block for Linux. The average computer user
> should not have to read through 10 HOW-TO's that reference 10 more HOW-TO's
> to get something simple like the internet going. No "average" computer user
> should even have to know what a HOW-TO is. If the program or task  the user
> is doing cannot do everything it is suppose to by itself then there should
> be a well written, logically organized, indexed help section. BTW, Man
> pages are just as bad as HOW-TO's. If my mother decided to buy and install
> Linux, she should not have to read a PPP HOW-TO  in order to get the dial
> up connection going. In fact, she should not even know that PPP exists. The
> most she should have to do is click a button that says something like "set
> up internet" and answer simple questions like " Are you using a dial up
> modem or DSL".  Hate to break it to everyone, but before Linux boots
> Microsoft of their high chair, The HOW-TO's have got to go.

When is the last time you did a Linux install?  I installed Mandrake 8.1 
yesterday and the install program prompted me for all the necessary 
information needed to get my box on my network and the Internet.  And when It 
asked me something, it was necessary information.  It didnt make lame, 
insecure assumptions for me.  I dare say that if you dont know what to enter 
during the install, you couldnt install any operating system.  If you cant do 
it yourself, just ask.

Maybe you can't or won't install Linux, but I am relatively sure that your 
mother might be able to.  I am absolutely sure that she could do everything 
she wants to do on her Linux box, not just what some company tells her she 
can do and tells her how she has to do it.

Your comments about users not ever needing the kind of information that can 
be found in the HOW-TOs and that they shouldnt need to know what pieces of 
software is doing the work that they want to do is typical Microsoft PR.  If 
you know too much about your software, you might choose software that does 
the job you want it to do, not the software that someone wants to sell you 
and keep selling you ad infinitum
>
> 4) Learn how to name programs. I should not have to do a web search to find
> out what a program does every time some cryptic letter scheme is brought
> up. For example, the discussion about setenv. Please tell me there could
> not have been a more descriptive name for that. Just looking at the letters
> does absolutely nothing for me. In order to under stand this I am sure I
> will have to read for several hours on the internet. (In all honesty I am
> unsure what it is now.). If my wife read an email that told here how to use
> setenv, her eyes would glaze over, she would get a headache, and I wouldn't
> get any bootie that night. I hope we all agree this is unacceptable.

Again, are you looking at the current incarnation of Linux?  The KDE menus do 
not have a bunch of cryptic names but things like "Fax Viewer" and "Find 
Files".  Things have changed a lot in the last year and are only getting 
better.
>
> If any of the things I said, made you mad and makes you want to flame me,
> congratulations, you are the reason Linux has not outpaced Microsoft. If
> you are too stubborn to realize that the average user does not want to be
> as smart about an o.s. as you, Linux will never work. Most users do not
> want to read a multitude of Books and online documentation, they want to
> get online and rip some MP3's. I really hope Linux does take off. One day,
> I hope to be knowledgable enough to maybe make some programs on my own.
> Geez, maybe even say something intelligent about Linux. The problem is, in
> order to make Linux big, people like my wife or mother, who have no desire
> to dabble, need to be able to use Linux and not have to reference alot of
> additional documentation to do it.

This last paragraph is your flame bait.  You obviously havent seen Linux in 
quite a while.  I can forgive you for that.  You can install and use Linux, 
maybe with a little help.  You can write all the code you want with Linux 
without buying more software from you-know-who.  Damn, you might even be able 
to write a program that works and is secure.  Your wife, your mother, and 
your sister can sit down in front of a Linux box today and do anything they 
want to do and never "dabble" into the innards of Linux.  I know.  I have 
seen my wife do it.  I have seen my grandson do it.

Microsoft is winning not because your comments make anyone mad.  Almost 
everyone who runs a  current Linux distribution knows all of your arguments 
are not valid.  I have seen people who have never seen Linux step up to a 
computer and be able to do almost everything they want without any 
handholding.  What makes Linux users mad is uninformed people making comments 
that might have been valid 3-4 years ago but are no longer an issue.   
>
> Just my 2 cents.................ok, ok, ok it was more like a cold $20.
> But, I do think it is true.
> Cliff

Only Microsoft would give you 2 cents for your uninformed comments.  But then 
they are well-known for purchasing FUD from uninformed critics of Linux.  If 
you really do think, dont believe everything you read and hear.  Think for 
yourself.  Dont let Microsoft or anyone else do it for you.

Jim
(damn, it was hard to keep anti-ms stuff out of this reply)