Why Free Software is a Hard Sell

jeffro writes "Dont know if this has been submitted yet, but the Independent news UK has a rather newbiesh article on the ups and down of Linux software as a free alternative to Windows. "Perhaps Linux shouldn't be regarded as an operating system at all, but more as a sophisticated multi-player game with a large number of enthusiastic players. You can lose yourself in Linux for hours, tweaking here, updating there. It's great fun if you like that sort of thing. But if you need to produce a document, spreadsheet or presentation, you're still likely to be able to do it faster and better by sticking with the Microsoft devil you know.""

Comments

It's not a desktop OS

[bonzoesc]

I hate to say this, but installing Linux isn't nearly as easy, fast, or reliable as Windows XP. I saw a perfectly normal SuSE installation completely fail after taking over 12 hours to install. Windows XP took just over two hours to install, including obtaining all the relevant installation media. And thanks to Microsoft's licensing policies, you can't get Linux preinstalled on home machines, either. What can be done? Make Linux easier to install, and make Microsoft change their licenses.

Re:They make a good point

[greenrd]

Another example: I right-clicked on the desktop expecting to be able to change my screen resolution, but couldn't find the tool to do it. Actually, I hunted for about 1/2 hour before deciding I'd just deal with the current resolution.

Ctrl+Alt+ keypad [+] or keypad [-]. If that doesn't work, you need to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

Re:Be realistic

[Ivan Raikov]

Find me three business executives who use nroff to format documents on a regular basis.

Find me one professional typesetter who uses Microsoft publishing software.

Find me one application that can do everything TeX/LaTeX can.