Slashdot Mirror
Introducing Linux to Joe Average
eco2geek writes "The local "alternative newspaper" is running a cover story titled 'The Rebel Alliance: An unlikely army of hacker hippies, geek visionaries, idealistic teachers and corporate giants is making Portland ground zero of a digital revolution.' I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything, but the article does give the average reader a good introduction to what Linux is, why it's important, and some of the politics surrounding it. (The article also mentions 'the frenetic Slashdot.org.' :-)"
Sure there are small things (not a GNU/Linux in sight) which will probably be the cause of much criticism here but for an INTRODUCTION to Linux, and a brief update on the who SCO joke I thought it was rather well done.
/. effect too... :D
At least it didn't leave me thinking: "What idiots wrote this garbage..."
Kudo's to a small newspaper standing up the
groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.
Any effort to familliarize the public with Linux that doesn't involve a creepy-looking 9 year old with yellow hair has my support.
That, and anything that doesn't involve Laverne talking about "chaos theory"..sheesh.
What the hell would be so wrong about simply putting a few kernel/distrib contributors infront of a camera, and letting them talk for 30 seconds? "Hi, I'm Dave. I wrote the part of Linux that makes this camera work. I did it because it's fun....and because the manufacturer wouldn't." Sure, most of us are pretty damn ugly but there's gotta be a few photogenic nerds among us. With good stories, too.
Bowie J. Poag
Unfortunately for every good article there's another full of FUD about *ix systems. take this one
"A new email virus called MyDoom is spreading rapidly across the Internet through UNIX mail servers, bringing with it a dangerous attachment that, when opened, can give attackers access to users' computers through an electronic backdoor."
Amazing what they'll print these days? unix systems, one of the systems so amazingly resistant to worms like mydoom, and still we have the press implying they're to blame for the spread of windows viruses.
I've been working with lots of 'Joe Average' types in the past couple of years, and there have been many abortive attempts to 'Linuxise' my offerings (to friends, family, and moonlighting clients). My wife was a ginea pig for me, switching from her blue-screen plagued windows install on a toshiba 8100 laptop to RedHat 8 + Ximian. She's never looked back. Encouraged by this success, I've brought several other family members and a couple of moonlight clients (barter system - including a veterinarian and a law firm) over to the 'free side'. Very few have experienced any real trouble.
In short, right now, if a given person doesn't absolutely require windows-based apps (like custom applications or games, etc), Linux is ready for the desktop of Joe Average Computer User. The small business office or home user that's not a gamer can recieve significant value increase from Linux, and I have at least 22 happy customers right now.
Thinking outside my Head
The problem is, many OEM's _can't_ sell Linux preinstalled on desktops without the strong hand of MS slamming down upon them. It's all or nothing. You either sell all Window's PC's or you're paying retail for for each copy. No OEM discount. and if you have a contract, we will sue you for breech of contract.
Not saying there's a huge demand, but if they offered it, people would buy it. Espically if it were the same PC but minus the cost of windows and office bundles they many times include. This would be very significant because for cheap PC's (some as low as a couple hundred bucks), shaving the price off of software could lower the price of a 300 dollar PC by as much as 50 dollars. So for many, the option of a PC that's around 20 percent less in price but is the same hardware, it would be a no brainer. Espically if OEM's started to give Linux a little nudge and put those PC's on the forefront.
These are all dreams though because OEM's have signed long term contracts with MS and when it's re-negotation time, it's either you run an all MS shop or you pay retail.
I recycle used computers, I have a contract with a *large* corporation to pick up their old PC's and other "goodies"..
They wipe the drives in them, which is FINE with me, so I take them all and install Linux on them, clean them up like brand new and resell them at rock botton prices that EVERYONE can afford, with a 30 day warranty.
I offer them only with Linux installed, take it or leave it. They are Internet appliances and they do a magnificent job of it, leaving the new owners to enjoy the computer without the headaches of using windows.
I give them 15 minutes free instructions on using it, if they want FULL instructions then I set up an appointment and charge $20 an hour which is $15 an hour cheaper than anyone else in town charges.
If they don't want Linux, that's tough. I don't offer any other options. They can install windows when they take it home but I won't help them if they have problems.
Like it or not, people around here are getting introduced to Linux. They want a cheap computer, they get one but they are at least going to play with Linux a little before they wipe it out.
But if they wipe out Linux and install anything else they void *my* 30 day warranty and they are own their own from them on..