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Making Linux Look Harder Than It Is

Posted by chrisd on from the complicated-makes-us-look-31337 dept.

drkich writes: "According to an article on The Register (by our very own roblimo). Many 'gurus' teaching new users about Linux make it look harder than it needs to be, and apparently fail to explain that yes, you can make PowerPoint-style presentations in Linux, you can view Web Pages that use Flash animation and other "glitz" features, and that you can manage all your files though simple "point, click, drag and drop" visual interfaces. Could the biggest problem with Linux usability be that most of the people teaching newbies to use Linux are too smart and know too much?"

3 of 764 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The biggest obstacle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Troll

    It'd be a risk, though...because I don't know if the average person is ready for Linux.

    I don't know if Linux is ready for the average person.

  2. Do we want Linux mainstreamed? by Rothfuss · · Score: 2, Troll

    1) FWIW, I personally agree with those that feel Linux is difficult for the inexperienced user. There are many things that can't be done by happily pointing and clicking which is how the average consumer copes with computer issues.

    2) Why do we want Linux mainstreamed. There appears to be a trade off between ease of use and power in OS design. Power users really can't be power users while running MacOS 9.x (no flamebait intended). Win 9x/ME leaves you reasonably lame. Win NT/2k gives you some tools and power (if you are Admin). Linux let's it all hang out (for Root anyway). The more power you have, the more damage you can do to your system if you don't know what the hell you are doing. A very reasonable, natural progression.

    Therefore, I don't think any incarnation of Linux that the Slashdot community will embrace and use will be truly friendly to the mainstream.

  3. Re:Too knowledgeable?? Hardly. by Tackhead · · Score: 2, Troll
    > It also doesn't help that I have never wanted my Linux box to be "easy to use" (as defined by those who say Linux needs to be more so), and thus have a hard time trying to make it so for others.

    I think you've hit the nail squarely on the head here.

    Sure, you can do PowerPoint-like presentations in Linux, but how many regular Linux users use PowerPoint on a daily basis? (And for those who do use PowerPoint -- they often have to exchange those presentations with other PP users. They can't use any presentation authoring tool, because they're sending the presentations to people who still use the Real McCoy.)

    Sure, you can view web pages with Flash ads^H^Hnimations, but I jump through hoops disabling that crap.

    Sure, you can "point, click, drag and drop" to manage your files, but I consider a mouse a device to tell a windowing system which xterm I wanna type into.

    Put Joe Newbie and me in front of freshly-installed Linux boxen for 3 months. Joe Newbie will have eventually figured out how to do all that (probably by asking experts other than me), but will have been frustrated because it took him three months to get his box to do what his Windows box did out-of-the-box, and half his questions (to people like me) will be answered with "I guess you can, but I've never used it..."

    Meanwhile, I'll have the three or four xterms, my mail by Pine or elm, Junkbuster, and web browsing with Netscape with image-autoload turned off and Flash forcibly removed, like I have for several years, and I'll continue to be happier than a pig in shit.