[ubuntu-uk] Race Online 2012 PCs shocker!

[Avi]

Martin Houston wrote:
> It would have been nice to have little snippets like Linux's 20 year
> history and the fact it runs on > 95% of all super computers. The page
> is very biased to say the least.

Not that either of those matter since we're talking about today and 
cheap computers, but Windows predates Linux by about six years.

> It is regrettable that the computers are such low spec, but if you are
> on benefits even another £50 spent on improving this would seem like a lot.
>
> Another thing we could help with as a community is finding ways of
> making there low spec computers tolerable. It seems the place they have
> been squeezed the most is memory.

I'm not convinced that this is really where the effort needs to be put 
in. Now-intolerably-slow computers are quite tolerable if you've not 
used anything more modern. To some people, a 20 second wait for their 
browser to open is *normal*.
The implication of that site is that more important is to make computing 
*easier* than faster - I suspect that keeping the process simpler than 
asking users to lug their PC round to a pub somewhere for a complete 
stranger to install some ram would just further the idea of there being 
dark arts at play. Surely getting it, plugging it in and going is more 
optimal?

> We need to give these people confidence that they can 'pimp their ride'
> like this.

Again, I might be missing the point here completely, but this exercise 
looks to be much more about teaching people to *use* their 'ride' than 
pimp it.

> I want people to see this as an opportunity to get a vibrant local Linux
> SIG going in your own area as a service to the community.

That is something I agree with you on, though :)

> Service can take many forms, helping more people out of the darkness of
> ignorance is one thing.

But this isn't.
It is completely not a truism that Linux is ideal for everybody. For 
some people, Windows or OSX (or whatever) is much better, and explaining 
that they're only using Windows because they're stupid isn't likely to 
encourage them to be part of the community.


I honestly think that one of the biggest downsides of Linux at the 
minute is the zealots that reckon everyone should be running it 
(especially when they do so while extolling 'choice'). It does, though, 
seem to be a phase that all Linux users go through at some point.

> These people will be done no favours if they go from no computer
> knowlege to trying to cope with XP, especially on such a low spec
> machine!

Yes they will. They will (or can) find out how email and instant 
messaging and the web works. They can get started with programming if 
they like. They can run an office suite if they like.
There's precious little that can be done on Linux but not Windows (and 
an unfortunate amount in the opposite direction).

The only thing they wont learn by using Win XP is a particularly common 
UI, but they wont get that with much other than OSX or Windows 7.

There's nothing fundamentally non-computer about Windows XP. It's just 
an old OS, one for which expertise and support is _everywhere_.

-- 
Avi