Are radical changes needed for Desktop Linux?

[|| svaksha ||]

hi all, 

a user taking the chance to de-lurk here :) 

On 7/10/05, John Skaller <skaller at users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-07-08 at 22:57 -0400, kanem wrote:
> > I liked 'this guy's' (http://tinyurl.com/b33wr) response to that article
> > you mention.
> 
> I don't. He makes a really naive mistake encapsulated here:
> 
> "What I answer to my John Doe's that want to install Linux is: read
> documentation first."
> 
> which shows he hasn't got the faintest idea. I'm a programmer,
> I hardly ever read manuals, and I certainly don't read them FIRST:
> what's the point of reading something about a tool you don't have?

I agree, and i am not a programming geek ! I did not read the man
files but just got Linux from a friend last year and had a dual-boot
up until april'05 when i got Ubuntu, when i decided to dump my first
linux distro and windows altogether.
now i am not so sure... why ?... everything was great, up until i got
a router 2 days ago, which according to tech support works fine with
windows (but i dont have windows:-) ....so i spent yesterday googling
and tried every command i could find but my resolv.conf file keeps
getting overwritten with each power cycle :-(  after 1.5 days, problem
unsolved....  so my experience has been frustrating at times !


> This is how people learn. NOT reading manuals. Manuals are
> for experts that already know enough to understand the
> structure so they know where in the manual to find some
> detail they've forgotten.. and perhaps pick up something
> new at the same time, but accident.

yes, manuals are for techno-geeks, not lay users !  
I can read them but most are cryptic with too much tech jargon which a
general user can't keep googling for and reading-up as there is other
work to do.  Most people who use Linux as dual boot, if faced with
problems, wont bother to seek a solution if the concerned device works
with windows (that is what my friend did).   I know its about getting
the hardware manufacturer to provide support for the device.  Yet its
tough for a normal user to get around and that is why windows still
exists on many PC's today.

This is *not* a rant against Linux, so please dont take it as that.  I
use linux for fun and i like to experiment so linux gives me that
freedom. However, if Linux has to really feature on every lay user's
PC as the only OS (and not dual-boot), then it needs to have a simple
UI with ease of use for simple tasks like configuring printers,
digital cameras, routers, webcams, modems, etc ..which every PC user
wants.  Maybe Ubuntu will fill the gap !
Most of this has been said before but its my $.02 !
   
cheers, 
|| svaksha ||