Selling Linux to Windows Users

[Mark Haney]

Dotan Cohen wrote:
> 2008/12/9 Mark Haney <mhaney at ercbroadband.org>:
>> So, having a sword is better than having a gun?  I mean, the sword came
>> before guns.  And I do believe there was MASS adoption of the sword.
> 
> Swords work when they are full of sand, they do not need reloading,
> they do not need the meticulous cleaning and frequent disassembly of a
> firearm, and have many other advantages. They are faster and less
> expensive to manufacture, less prone to abuse, and can be used for a
> variety of purposes.

Full of sand?  I missed that reference.  :) But yeah, I never tire of 
reloading my katana.

> 
>> This is not only misleading, it's just wrong.  True, Win95 did make
>> computing easier for the masses.  /At the time./  However, the culture
>> has changed drastically.  The internet has a lot to do with that, but
>> the fact is, people are expecting more out of their systems than 'easy'.
> 
> But they will not forsake 'easy'. Fortunately, Ubuntu provides that.

I've seen plenty of people forsake 'easy' for stability and usability. 
But, in general that's true.  However, I will say that more people are 
becoming savvy enough to forsake 'Fisher-Price' easy for something more 
complex without being overly so.


> 
>>  They also want it to work, work well, consistently and securely.
> 
> Securely? Who? I do not know them. And consistency does not seem
> important to anyone but people who take an active interest in
> computers.

Yes, securely.  Maybe my experience has been outside the norm, but I've 
found more 'casual' users taking more of an interest in security over 
the last couple of years than I ever did before.  Now, it's true they 
want 'secure' without 'paranoid', but taking an interest in it is a start.

> 
> Do you take an active interest in kitchen appliances? Has the
> inconsistency of the refrigerator lighting and the microwave lighting
> ever bothered you? The refrigerator light is only active when the door
> is open. The microwave light is only active when the door is shut.
> Does that not bother you?

I'm not sure where you were headed with this, but this isn't 
inconsistency as much as it is /supposed/ to function that way.  And it 
does every time providing the bulb isn't burned out.  And yeah, I do 
take an interest in them, I do all the cooking at home.  It's how I relax.


> 
>> This is why (as much as anything) that Vista has killed market share for
>>  MS.  It's not usable, it's not easy and it doesn't work well.  So
>> people are looking for alternatives.  I mean, if what you say above is
>> true, then Vista should be picked up by everyone anyway, since Windows
>> came first.
>>
>> History doesn't teach us about who came first. It's more about the
>> victors write the history.
> 
> Hehe, it's the victors who usually write the history.

In a really poor way, that's what I said.  It sounded better in my head. 
  If that helps.

> 
>> So far, Microsoft has been the victor, so
>> their version of history is the 'correct' one.  (For lack of a better
>> way to phrase it.  This about having a better mouse trap.  The Romans
>> conquered most of the known world, not because they had swords and
>> others didn't, but because they were /better/ at using them than others.
>>  So it goes with computing.  Once the 'new car smell' wears off, people
>> start to really look at what they have and how they use it and find
>> faults where they didn't see them during the test drive.
> 
> Not until they see something new, no. That's why I love to use Compiz
> and answer people who ask "is that Vista"?
> 

Well, that may be true in a lot of cases, but everyone finds that when 
the 'new' wears off, it's not as cool as you originally thought it was. 
  You know?




-- 
Frustra laborant quotquot se calculationibus fatigant pro inventione 
quadraturae circuli

Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
(828) 350-2415

Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support