Fw: Why Linux is Failing As A Desktop System.. One Example.
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Bennett Kankuzi
Apr 1, 2012, 2:54:43 AM4/1/12
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I thought the story below from
http://us.generation-nt.com/why-linux-failing-desktop-system-one-example-help-206345222.html
could provide some insights:
http://us.generation-nt.com/why-linux-failing-desktop-system-one-example-help-206345222.html
could provide some insights:
I had to attend a business presentation today as a consultant and
part of the presentation was a lawyer, easily late 50's early 60's,
and his assistant, a young man maybe in his 20's.
So anyway they had all this hi tech equipment with an overhead
projector that could project actual photographs and not just
transparencies on a huge plasma (Samsung) screen via a laptop.
They also had videos on the laptop.
So anyway, the overhead thing worked pretty good, but when it came
to the videos, I was watching (you could see the laptop screen on
the Samsung plasma TV) the assistant double click on one of the
videos (*.avi file) and I saw the familiar orange and white cone
show up and thought to myself, wow, someone is using VLC on Windows.
Oh yea the laptop was running Windows 7.
So immediately the assistant kills the window, which froze the
machine for a minute or so and then brings up Windows Media Player
and he continued to make the presentation which was fine.
Afterwards, I asked both the lawyer and the assistant why they
killed VLC because it's even better than WMP IMHO.
They didn't even know what I was talking about.
Clueless.
I explained about VLC but all they knew was "this cone thing that
keeps popping up"...
I asked, did you ever let it start to see what happens?
No was the answer.
My point is, people are conditioned to certain tools that do what
they need them to do.
They don't have the time, nor the need to think outside the box.
In this case the presentation was most important.
The player doesn't matter so they go with what they know.
That's one reason why people see no need for Linux and FOSS.
In this case, the person had nothing to gain by using VLC.
He just wants to play a video.
ETC.
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wanangwa ndhlovu
Apr 3, 2012, 4:41:54 AM4/3/12
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What a nice observation, its true people are blind to good things because of stereotypes.
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Noel Ntaba
Apr 5, 2012, 4:58:48 AM4/5/12
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nice indeee
Noel Ntaba
May 20, 2012, 6:32:26 AM5/20/12
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very good
The Developer
May 20, 2012, 4:22:31 PM5/20/12
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My 2 cents.
I think one dude correctly said advocacy for FOSS can be done in many different ways, and one in particular is to introduce tools/utilities which are useful in the closed source environment this IMHO would be a good start. e.g. check out one can do with Puppy Linux , www.puppylinux.org
But I would also like to suggest further, that for a group like this one - why not collaborate on something and give it to the community, that I also think would be a good start.
Noel Ntaba
May 22, 2012, 4:23:40 AM5/22/12
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dear all
I like the idea
Flex Maestro
May 23, 2012, 3:22:20 AM5/23/12
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Guys, software trends in malawi is not the same as the US. Windows commercial software may be a little tough to get hold of in the US but not in malawi. Very few people here even know how to install windows on a PC, they simply take their computers to a cybercafe or a tech savvy friend and have them do it for them. If a survey was done on how these people get their OS, 99% of them will tell you they never paid for it. Windows is freely available in malawi through downloaded copies from torrent sites e.t.c. nobody needs to buy software, even some reputable organisations are using illegally downloaded copies of windows on their machines. that's the truth we have to face. The only legal copies of windows you find in most people's homes are copies that came with the computers upon purchase.
This means FOSS cannot knock windows out easily, just because windows in africa is almost free! i'll admit to you, my laptop, the one im using right now as i speak, has a freely downloaded copy of windows 7. So im part of the problem, i admit, but my point here is to let you people see the real situation on the ground other than making hypothetical arguments about the potential of FOSS in the country. from a normal user'd point of view, the Linux OS is just too overwhelming. Its UI is just un-appealing to young users, barely able to compete with the magnificence that is windows and MacOS. Linux will find it hard to penetrate here even though it is free, the reason is simple, i can teach my young kid the basics of the windows operating system in an hour, id have to spent three days teaching the same things on a linux machine. programmers and experienced FOSS users take for granted such small facts.
The other problem with linux is that it is not user-helpful when you encounter a problem. an OS has to be able to anticipate some common user errors. If i make a mistake in windows and jam my applications or OS, i'll most likely find the solution within the help center, and i'll be enganged step by step on how to solve it, when the problem is solved, i have a sense of fulfilment and it makes me feel more tech savvy, inturn, i fall in live with my computer even more and want to learn further. but if it was linux, i'd be led to all sorts of compiling and de-compiling jargon that only programmers understand.
Linux is also weak on its packaging, soon after finishing your linux installation, you figure out you have to install small stuf that always come fre-packaged in windows and MacOS installations. im talking about basics like mp3 and dvd codecs. you have to sudo install all sorts of stuff to have a working system. this proves too much for a learning computer user. people want a working system, they dont want to spend hours upon hours learning to tweak a system. most people just want a PC to do some basic things like listening to music, watching movies, editing school or work documents, storing and viewing pictures and accessing the internet. if the have to learn how to install tar.gz files to do all this when they can just get windows and everything will come preloaded, even though they'll get a pirated windows package, i bet they'll care less and just get the windows OS.
Im not an expert in linux, i barely know my way around it, even though i was forced to use it for 4 years at college because all the computers in all the labs had linux (compulsory). so most of the arguments ive made above may be probably wrong and will be trashed. perhaps linux has moved on from the hopeless ubuntu i used 3 years ago. but i hope what ive said here will be useful, because it represents the first impression that ubuntu has left on most people that have used it before. There's a lot of work to be done on linux to make it appealing to the normal user and not just programmers. unfortunately, programmers speak their own language. Im a web designer predominantly use linux servers for my websites and im convinced that it performs better than windows based servers, but i dont have the slightest care how effective it does the job in the background, all i want, as a normal user is simplicity+effectiveness, and windows offers that just fine. Time to catch up linux, otherwise you'll always play (not even second fiddle) third fiddle.
This means FOSS cannot knock windows out easily, just because windows in africa is almost free! i'll admit to you, my laptop, the one im using right now as i speak, has a freely downloaded copy of windows 7. So im part of the problem, i admit, but my point here is to let you people see the real situation on the ground other than making hypothetical arguments about the potential of FOSS in the country. from a normal user'd point of view, the Linux OS is just too overwhelming. Its UI is just un-appealing to young users, barely able to compete with the magnificence that is windows and MacOS. Linux will find it hard to penetrate here even though it is free, the reason is simple, i can teach my young kid the basics of the windows operating system in an hour, id have to spent three days teaching the same things on a linux machine. programmers and experienced FOSS users take for granted such small facts.
The other problem with linux is that it is not user-helpful when you encounter a problem. an OS has to be able to anticipate some common user errors. If i make a mistake in windows and jam my applications or OS, i'll most likely find the solution within the help center, and i'll be enganged step by step on how to solve it, when the problem is solved, i have a sense of fulfilment and it makes me feel more tech savvy, inturn, i fall in live with my computer even more and want to learn further. but if it was linux, i'd be led to all sorts of compiling and de-compiling jargon that only programmers understand.
Linux is also weak on its packaging, soon after finishing your linux installation, you figure out you have to install small stuf that always come fre-packaged in windows and MacOS installations. im talking about basics like mp3 and dvd codecs. you have to sudo install all sorts of stuff to have a working system. this proves too much for a learning computer user. people want a working system, they dont want to spend hours upon hours learning to tweak a system. most people just want a PC to do some basic things like listening to music, watching movies, editing school or work documents, storing and viewing pictures and accessing the internet. if the have to learn how to install tar.gz files to do all this when they can just get windows and everything will come preloaded, even though they'll get a pirated windows package, i bet they'll care less and just get the windows OS.
Im not an expert in linux, i barely know my way around it, even though i was forced to use it for 4 years at college because all the computers in all the labs had linux (compulsory). so most of the arguments ive made above may be probably wrong and will be trashed. perhaps linux has moved on from the hopeless ubuntu i used 3 years ago. but i hope what ive said here will be useful, because it represents the first impression that ubuntu has left on most people that have used it before. There's a lot of work to be done on linux to make it appealing to the normal user and not just programmers. unfortunately, programmers speak their own language. Im a web designer predominantly use linux servers for my websites and im convinced that it performs better than windows based servers, but i dont have the slightest care how effective it does the job in the background, all i want, as a normal user is simplicity+effectiveness, and windows offers that just fine. Time to catch up linux, otherwise you'll always play (not even second fiddle) third fiddle.
Noel Ntaba
May 23, 2012, 5:25:20 AM5/23/12
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As a group we should sit down and come up with a good plan on how we can replace MS windows to linus
Noel Ntaba
May 23, 2012, 5:28:10 AM5/23/12
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sorry its linux not linus
Steven Perete
May 23, 2012, 5:55:05 AM5/23/12
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well Noted. thanks
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Steven Bernard Perete
2012/5/23 Flex Maestro <flxm...@gmail.com>
Steven Bernard Perete
City: Blantyre, Malawi
Postal: P.O. Box E78, Post Dot Net, Blantyre. Malawi
Email: steven...@gmail.com
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Bennett Kankuzi
May 23, 2012, 6:26:49 AM5/23/12
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Fellow FOSSers,
I certainly very much agree with the points raised by Flex Maestro. I
have presented elsewhere that the challenge with Linux is not
performance nor the "free cost". The challenge is USABILITY. No matter
how good a system can be, but if is not user-friendly, it is equally
as useless. People do not that time to learn how to use a system. For
example, how many times does a people read a user manual first, before
using a new cellphone they have just bought? We will all agree that
many simply go straight to start fiddling with the phone. They learn
how to use the phone, simply by exploring the interface of the system.
Therefore, the simpler the interface, the better the user experience.
Having said that, personally I feel that the only way to break Windows
dominance on the desktop market is by promoting user-friendly distros.
So far, I do understand that Linux Mint is leading the pack on this -
check https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/571815-the-2012-top-7-best-linux-distributions-for-you
I have just downloaded Linux Mint so that I should have first hand
experience of it. Anybody who is currently using Linux Mint? If so,
please, lets share experiences!
Cheers!
Bennett
> *City: *Blantyre, Malawi
> *Postal:* P.O. Box E78, Post Dot Net, Blantyre. Malawi
> *Email: *steven...@gmail.com
> *Yahoo / Twitter: * sbperete | *Skype:* steven.bernard.perete
> | *Facebook
> / Gtalk:* steven.perete
I certainly very much agree with the points raised by Flex Maestro. I
have presented elsewhere that the challenge with Linux is not
performance nor the "free cost". The challenge is USABILITY. No matter
how good a system can be, but if is not user-friendly, it is equally
as useless. People do not that time to learn how to use a system. For
example, how many times does a people read a user manual first, before
using a new cellphone they have just bought? We will all agree that
many simply go straight to start fiddling with the phone. They learn
how to use the phone, simply by exploring the interface of the system.
Therefore, the simpler the interface, the better the user experience.
Having said that, personally I feel that the only way to break Windows
dominance on the desktop market is by promoting user-friendly distros.
So far, I do understand that Linux Mint is leading the pack on this -
check https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/571815-the-2012-top-7-best-linux-distributions-for-you
I have just downloaded Linux Mint so that I should have first hand
experience of it. Anybody who is currently using Linux Mint? If so,
please, lets share experiences!
Cheers!
Bennett
> *Postal:* P.O. Box E78, Post Dot Net, Blantyre. Malawi
> *Email: *steven...@gmail.com
> *Yahoo / Twitter: * sbperete | *Skype:* steven.bernard.perete
> / Gtalk:* steven.perete
WalterNyirenda
May 29, 2012, 12:04:56 PM5/29/12
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Talking of hardware diagnosis in Windows, Windows help center is utterly useless, If you got a hardware problem fixed from it, the hardware must have already been working in the first place. To be honest, I am part of this younger generation and I am a happy using Ubuntu with GNOME 3, the web is integrated into the desktop itself, I don't need to switch between applications just to get to answer to an instant message from somebody. My brother who used to be a major Linux critic now comes to use my computer everytime he wants to do something on the Internet(which he already has on Windows). Getting an Internet connection in Ubuntu is a thousand times easier than it is in Windows, it's just a matter of connecting my mobile phone and it works, no need to go out and look for mobile phone drivers or buy a dongle, and talking of drivers. Everytime I install Windows I need to go onto the internet and find drivers just to get sound, everytime I install Linux, everything just works. Here's something I find strange about Windows, I get a DVD for installation and all I get is notepad, Windows is 4.7 GBs of uselessness, I would have to go out and find an additional 10GB+ of pirated software that comes with lots of Malware just to get anything useful done, this is not the case with Ubuntu that fits on a 700MB CD. Here is more, after getting that 10GB+ of software installed I then start thinking of formatting my PC, why, I installed something that broke something which in turn caused the OS to BSOD, well maybe to fix this, I must consult help center, which in turn, instructs me to go into safe-mode and try restoring the OS, strangely I can't even boot into safe mode, it BSOD's again everytime I try to boot into safe mode. Talking of codecs, even on Windows, you need to install some codecs to get some forms of media playing. What I ask of you is to get yourself an Ubuntu 11.10 or 12.04 CD, Wubi install it into your Windows, it's no different to installing any other Windows application(you don't need to be an IT expert, that's what we call user-friendliness), try it for sometime(weeks), you won't love it the first day nor the second but in time everybody does. If you don' t love it, uninstalling it, is just like uninstalling any other Windows app. The only thing I miss from Windows is the games, nothing else, am happy where I am, I must confess everytime I try to work in Windows I feel trapped, am lost, with nothing to do.
very good
nice indeee
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very good
nice indeee
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