Re: When Will GNU/Linux Be Ready for Joe User?

[Ministry Of Jute]

Paul Bramscher wrote:

> The other problem with linux is that, as an open source OS, it can be 
> custom compiled and there's a lot of technical -- and totally 

Which is not different then what Microsoft does by 'working' with OEMs 
to tailor it to their specific hardware.

> unintuitive -- jargon surrounding it.  This is a good thing for expert 
> users and people concerned about security, development, openness, etc. 
> -- but presents a big worry to the neophyte who thinks he'll need to 
> learn perl/c/bash in order to send an e-mail.   >Just not true, but it's
> possible if you want -- and that's a strength not a weakness.  The linux 
> community just needs to make it known that setting up a box equivalent 
> in functionality to an XP installation is basically point-and-click with 
> more than one distro.

It's been said a thousand times.  XP users don't 'install' their OS.  If 
they did, it would never be installed.  They buy it pre-installed on the 
machine.   No average person even knows what a shell is, more or less 
being able to think that he might have to use it.

This is where the Wal*Mart shopper, who simply sees a Linux value and 
buys the machine and uses it without fuss, is ahead of the academic, 
such as yourself.