[TriLUG] User Friendliness and Linksys wrt54g

[Rock Roskam]

I have been watching userlinux as a distribution, and Debian.  I would like a linux distribution that is easy to use for the desktop and free.  I think the current hurdles and prices main stream distributions are placing on linux are going to slow adoption on the desktop.  Items like Lindows charging free software.  Mandrake separating out the software between community and official dividing the drivers, support forums, and upgrade process.  Redhat waffling on the desktop.  Suse not providing ISO's or support for current hardware.  All of them using a different installer, update software, libraries.  Linux needs more common denominators.  The concepts of linux for the average user is still too confusing.  But a free distribution is still going to have to provide updates and security fixes.  Linux still faces the same challenges it has since its inception.  

-new hardware does not work automatically
-no common interface other than the cli
-updating, upgrading and patching are a pain
-poor compatibility with MS windows
-multimedia is harder to use
-less commercial games and applications 
-shaky business model which competes with itself
  
Makes for good entertainment though.  Hand out Knoppix like it is candy.

By the way the linksys firmware upgrade for Sveasoft is dead easy and the QOS helps out of the box without manually configuring the scripts.

Rock 


-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf Of Dave Sorenson
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:31 AM
To: 'Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list'
Subject: RE: [TriLUG] User Friendliness


Good thoughts, but most people are non techies and are lazy. They don't care HOW an OS works, they just want it made simple for them to accomplish a task. Given the choice between Microsoft spoon feeding or telling them to read MAN pages to figure Linux out M$ will rule. If there were no other option then your logic would work, but facts are facts these people are used to things being dirt simple and they don't want you to make them think. 

Since these people are the majority of users at the moment, any OS that wants to challenge M$ has to accept that low user commitment and "why cant I...?" expectation and move on. To be elitist and hold on to "we shouldn't dumb things down" yet expect the lemmings to set out on their own is unrealistic.  

Dave S



-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org] On Behalf Of Timothy A. Chagnon
Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 2:08 AM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] User Friendliness

I applaud your effort. Here's my $0.02.

On Fri, 2004-06-04 at 01:00, Jeff Tickle wrote:
> Because if there's one
> thing Microsoft got right, it's making a computer easy to use...

I disagree with you here.  I think Microsoft has done much harm by making things "user friendly."  They have essentially lowered the bar _so_ far in this respect that users don't learn anything about what's really going on in the background.  Plus, doing anything slightly more advanced takes that many more steps to get past the user friendliness.

<bad_analogy_pun>
Teach a man to cat and he'll cat for a day.  Teach a man to man and he'll man for the rest of his life. </bad_analogy_pun>

Of course Linux could use more people making GUIs and user friendly interfaces, but I think we shouldn't hide things or dumb it down. 
Personally I think the better approach is just to provide more information at hand, and make advanced tasks more efficient.

> ... and as much as I make fixing people's little Windows boxes
> temporarily... I'd rather make that money permanently fixing them with 
> a Linux install.
> 

Here, here.  And it might even make people learn a bit and be more
self-sufficient.

-Tim
--
Timothy A. Chagnon <tchagnon at futeki.net>

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