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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.' :-)"
Check these out:
:)
Torvalds, now a 34-year-old tech superstar whom some see as the love child of Thomas Edison and Che Guevara,...
"Linux wasn't started as any kind of rebellion against the 'evil Microsoft empire,'" Torvalds told The New York Times last year. "I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."
"In a school, it's public money. How should it be spent? Is it ethical to buy software instead of hiring an art teacher? Me, I want an art teacher--not the Microsoft help assistant dancing on every student's desktop.
"Why spend billions," said one Amazon tech guru at the time, "when you can spend millions?"
So funny. I'd post more quotes but I'm too lazy too read the rest of the article.
I'm pretty impressed as it's only a 'local alternative newspaper' that it's not buckling under the Slashdot effect, in fact it hasn't even slowed down!
Even stranger is the Netcraft 'what's that site running?' results, showing that the server was recently running MacOS!
When anger rises, think of the consequences.
Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)
Oh, yes! Right here! The average Joe can handle Linux just as well as he can handle Windows. Teach a little boy Linux from the very first moment he touches a keyboard and he'll be just fine. The sad part is the national government is in bed with Microsoft. Let's hope that little project keeps going.
Frankly I see advertisements of Linux as a good thing, I mean more people should merely just know of Linux.
And the day came when the risk to remain closed in a bud, became more painful than the risk it took to blossom.
If you want Joe Sixpack to use linux, you just have to show him how fun it can be! Like this picture from a wild linux-party :)
4 3. jpg
http://linuxforum.dk/2003/billeder/chlor/r00172
Oh, they're a wild bunch!
It took a while for the words to sink in. I mean, my friend works in the publishing industry, and while she uses computers all day for word processing and presentations and stuff like that, I didn't expect her to know about FreeBSD. So I asked "Why FreeBSD? Have you been reading OSNews again?"
She gave me a strange look and replied "No, because FreeBSD is free, and I've heard all sorts of things about Linux getting picked up by the big corporates. Those IBM ads are everywhere! I thought Linux was going to be expensive...more expensive than Windows!"
I went ahead and install GNU/Debian for her, lecturing her solidly on the finer points of apt-get while we installed all 6 CD-ROMs from my laptop over a heavily degraded 802.11b link (I'd removed all the RF shielding from her PC's case to 'lap' the hard drive). But it got me thinking. Are Linux distros losing out to FreeBSD when it comes to new users simply because of their names? I mean, who's going to know that GNU/Debian Linux doesn't cost $699 per seat? FreeBSD says immediately that the product is free
I'll put a question to the community...do people think that it might be worth re-naming Debian in some markets (like campus bookstores, for instance) to FreeDebian? I mean, Tux could even hold a pitchfork or something. Do people think that a 'marketing friendly' name is important? Would this get the Debian developers off-side with the FSF, or would they understand? Would the viral nature of the BSD license necessitate distribution changes because of the 'Free' in the name? I welcome comments from the GNU/Linux and FreeBSD communities equally!
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything. . .
Rain?
KFG
Sure there are small things (not a GNU/Linux in sight) which will probably be the cause of much criticism here but for an INTRODUCTION to Linux, and a brief update on the who SCO joke I thought it was rather well done.
/. effect too... :D
At least it didn't leave me thinking: "What idiots wrote this garbage..."
Kudo's to a small newspaper standing up the
groklaw, wired and slashdot. The holy trinity of work based time wasting.
Does that mean that any company (SCO, M$) could copyright the Tux logo and we won't be able to use it anymore?
DVD Ripping, Divx, VCD, SVCD under Linux
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
Luki.org, a German organisation for the spread of the word of Linux in Christian Churches, created a very good "Uberzeugungsmappe", a convincement paper for Joe Enduser. It is slightly outdated and probably not available in English but you could try to tranlate it via Babelfish and correct the mistakes.
Download the German paper in OpenOffice Format or as pdf. More about the Luki-Organisation in English
It would be very helpful to get an English translation of this very good LUKI "Uberzeugungsmappe" paper
Aye, I tried smashing them with a wooden hammer, but after a few hits, the sodden thing was in pieces! Then I tried a bigger one, but to no avail. Then I decided to test my brand new diamond-head drill, but it wouldn't even leave a mark on these numbers! "Bloody hell," I said. And threw the numbers into a furnace. And when I took them out, they were bloody hot (I almost lost my left thumb because of a number 5) and there were some weird markings to be seen on them -- I guess my diamond-head drill still did some damage ;7
Hell is not other people; it is yourself. - Ludwig Wittgenstein
It should be titled: Introducing Linux to Joe User.
Linux is still a techies OS. Any headway made swinging it into the mainstream is by Linux bending towards what the user wants (Start Menus etc.), not by bending the public at large (i.e. not us) towards Linux.
I've heard so much about the so-called "Rebellion" whenever Linux is mentioned. Sometimes I gotta admit that I dunno what they are talking about.
I use Linux not because I rebel against anyone, it's just that I got tired of the blue-screen-of-death cum you-gimme-more-$$$-and-we-still-won't-fix-the-bug thingy so I switched.
No rebellion, just got tired with you-know-who.
In other words, the "Rebellion" thingy may be overated.
Just my thoughts, anyway.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
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.
(That would make a good slogan...)
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Throw that sig in, and the fight would go like this:
Linus: "Surely void main(void) since you've got no return, and you forgot to include your IO libraries for printf!"
Bill: "Arrgghh - fire the secret weapon! #pragma align -0.5"
(At this point Linus core dumps and Bill locks solid in the same position for 5 minutes until the referee resets him. Linus just gets on with it, but Bill returns to his corner to scandisk and blame the referee for not shutting him down properly).
biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
Using a little hack called page five of a four page story:
http://www.willametteweek.com/story.php?story=4764 &page=5
He who laughs last is stuck in a time dilation bubble.
"IBM's endorsement of Linux has added credibility and an illusion of support and accountability," Ballmer wrote.
So, backing from a huge corporation only gives an illusion of support and accountability, by Ballmers own admission? Something to keep in mind next time "corporate backing" is flounted as a Windows highlight :)
a better slogan i think :)
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Or maybe Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds will turn out to have been switched at birth, and will have to swap places, because it's discovered that the wrong one has "The Mark of Cred" (dun dun DUUUNNNNN!)
I've talked to several non-linux users about why they don't use it, and I'm not talking about the die-hard MS supporters. I'm talking about people that have tried it at one time or another, ran it for a while, and just gave up on it.
Why did they give up instead of switching over to it as their primary desktop? Answers ranged over several salient (if not because they're real, at least because they're perceived) problems.
Die-hard linux people see variety as a good thing. That's true, and it's not true. Variety always has to be put in context, especially if there's a lot of it. Here's an example that even die-hard linux people can understand (assuming you're not chefs too). Let's say I'm making salsa and I send you to the store to pick up some heat. You don't know the first thing about peppers, and it just so happens I live next to a produce mart the likes of which you've never seen before. To choose from are: jalapenos, habaneros, anaheim, chipotle, ancho, pablano, thai, serrano, scotch bonnet, etc. What are you likely to do? That's right--grab the jalapenos, cuz that's what you've heard of before, even though they're probably not the best solution. Some die-hard linux people would argue, hey, if your goal is to help your buddy out, you'll head over to your favorite bookstore and read up, and then head back to the produce mart armed with this newfound knowledge. To these people I say, you are truly a die-hard fan of linux if you didn't get this point.
This is the pressure novices feel at every turn with linux, not just from what OS to install, but what is the install process? (Depends on the distro you've chosen.) How do I install an application? (Ibid.) Which application do I install if I want, say, an email client? (Good luck wading through all of the available options.) Why is it that everytime I head over to my buddy's house, he always knows about all this crap that I've never heard of, and he's got this smokin' setup that I wouldn't have the first clue how to begin assembling? How does one even keep up with all the choice that's available?
All frustrations that don't happen with Windows. You only rarely head over to a buddy's and see him running Mozilla instead of IE and think, hmm, I'd like that and didn't know about it. 99% of the time, you're both running the same media player, picture editor, etc, and if you're not, there's only a small handful of well-known choices to choose from.
The next barrier to installing/using linux on a long-term basis with these folks is what I call the annoyance/showstopper problem. Eventually, usually sooner than later, these people run into something that's either really annoying (they can't get X to run at a desired resolution, for example), or a really serious problem that impedes their ability to move forward (they can't connect to the web). They also don't really know where to look for help, or even how to find out where they should start. I myself ran into a problem years ago with RedHat, I simply wanted to upgrade the asteroids game, but the web of library dependencies that had to also be updated made it hardly worthwhile. Eventually, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work--I finally got to the end of a long dependency chain and discovered that, no matter what I did to upgrade this particular library, it wouldn't go in because it was replacing a basic graphics library that is used by virtual terminals. Because it was always in use, it couldn't be replaced, even in single-user mode. So I know this frustration well...even I was asking, how great can this OS be if a simple game can't easily be upgraded, and then it turns out when you finally commit yourself to an afternoon of hunting, it simply can't be upgraded at all? The bigger issue here for most users is, why should I have to know about library dependencies to upgrade a game, why are virtual terminals relevant to the problem I'm having, and what is a virtual terminal anyway? (The point is, whatever it is, it's totally unrelated to what I was trying to do, and most people find t
but have you considered the following argument: shut up.
I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call Portland 'ground zero' of anything...
Why not? The Open Source Development Lab (OSDL) is in Portland. I'd think that counts for _something_. Then there's Intel's first real [huge] Linux farm which was instrumental in designing and modelling the Pentium 4 (howdy DPG). Not to mention several Linux developers, coders and doc maintainers and that Randal guy (hey, Randal).
Sign me,
A BiOFH who will always call PDX home
- I am made of meat.
Linus Torvalds can go anywhere. It's probably no accident that he and the The Open Source Development Lab are in Portland. (Beaverton is one of the towns that are part of the metropolitan area of 1.4 million people called Portland.)
Portland has the largest bookstore in the world.
Portland has one of the largest and most successful dealers in contemporary art in the world. The gallery has a funny name, but shows the work of over 1,100 artists.
Portland has the largest park inside a city in the world. The park has over 74 miles of wilderness hiking trails.
Portland is the home of Pink Martini, a band that writes multi-cultural songs. One of Pink Martini's songs was once one of the most popular songs in France. You can listen to the music video.
It's a 55 minute drive from downtown Portland to the ski areas. "World Class Skiing in Your Own Backyard."
The K-12 Linux Project, in Portland, is one of the more successful projects for giving Linux to average users, who in this case are students.
Portland borders on the confluence of the Willamette River and the Columbia River, one of the largest rivers in the world. The Columbia River Gorge, on the eastern edge of Portland, is a world class wind-surfing area.
On the other hand: Q. Why do hippies come to Portland? A. Because there are no jobs.
Many people don't like the months of rain every year. They say Portland is the perfect place for slugs and ducks. (However, the rain cleans the air.)
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
If you spend a dollar with a local company working on Linux, that dollar stays in your economy," said Simon Phipps of Sun Microsystems.
"When you spend a dollar with a multi-national corporation as a license fee for a piece of software, that dollar leaves your country."
"It's about keeping the money in your local economy, developing skills and developing the local economy to be strong in its own right in a global context."
Also quoted are Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond.
Not mentioned, however, are The Free Software Foundation or the GNU Project.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I have not always been a geek, but even before my geek days I never caught a virus. The type of attachments and emails that these viruses come in is so blatantly obvious that any idiot can figure out which emails they should be wary of. If you do want to open up some little game that a freind sent you, at least update your definitions and scan the file first.
Of course this is nothing in comparison to the ultimate peev which is folks giving out there passwords (or better yet, writing them down and taping it to the monitor). How damn ignorant do people have to be? Do they not realize that giving others your password completely defeats the purpose of having a password? I am not kidding when I tell you this: My girlfreind worked as an auditor at a public university. There were staff members whom had access to the database system that is used to keep track of student records including grades. They put the password for this system up on the computer and then, not only did they sit there clueless while watching student workers access this system, but this office had an open-door policy allowing any student to come in and use this computer.
Gentlemen and ladies, this is the level of ignorance that we are dealing with.
Having spent some time on an LPI course, and delving a little deeper, I found some aspects of Linux still need attention (IMHO).
.conf added on the end. Perhaps people who still roll the software with -conf are trying to be amusing.
Why is it not possible to have all configuration files with the
Daemons are another. Why the hell call your FTP log Xtransfer.log?
There were so many examples of this idiocy that I ended up scratching my head. For an OS built on standards, there was a remarkable lack of reasonable standards when working with the OS, to the point of it being setup in some demented legacy ideals.
Now, I know I can go and add my own aliases, and I can amend all my log files, and break open all the configuration and fix this myself. But if you take that view, JoeNewUser is going to face this everytime you crack open a new Linux on the guy.
In the end, JoeNewUser will have to use the command lines and configuration, where he'll come up on the non standard, sometimes illogical, system confs and logs.
One day maybe, just maybe, Linux and its distributions will agree on its boot configuration files being in a standard place, and the same leads on for conf files.
Now, I suppose if you use the OS every day, you work around these things. You might adapt to the non logical names, non standard conf files, and ever changing locations of files.
Anyway, just my tuppence..
AdmV
We`re all equal
Way back when my brother was using windows 95 I thought it would be fun to try linux. What was cool about was that it was NOT like windows. In fact I had never seen anything so different from Windows. I bought a book with Red Hat 5.1 and it was good.
Now I know that Linux is great for servers as I run my own site on it but even as the desktop becomes more usable, it is boring. It's nothing but a second rate clone of windows. And I doin't use anything second rate so I went back to windows when XP came out.
Make Linux cool again. Make it different and BETTER than windows and you will win me back but as for now why bother?
Thanks
"You do not support the root but the root supports you." - Romans 11:18
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..
I being a Microsoft croonie am sorry to say that I don't see this revolution of linux and freeBSD slowing down. I have always worked developing in microsofts products and their latest .Net platform is a pleasure to work with.
That being said I also realize that the only reason Bill comes up with these development platforms is to increase his hold on the desktop market. Yet WHY then with the success of open-source software on the rise would they still be charging schools and university's for their products. This is where their user base is created from!! In addition this this fact( which bothers me immensly ) they have also come out with their latest aggravating anti-piracy tool "pain in the ass" activation. Now I can't even move my legal copy of XP from one computer to another without having to go through the activation process again. This is a big mistake in my opinion. I know there are already hacks for this feature but if they ever come out with a version of their operating system that can't be used illeagally I see them going down in
FLAMES. If people in poor developing countries can't use their system to learn on along with the educational community in first world countries, there choke-hold on this industry will quickly be loosened.
I don't want to hear any Windows using moron say that I should use Windows.
I think that most Windows users feel the same way about Linux.
if they ever come out with a version of their operating system that can't be used illeagally(sic) I see them going down in FLAMES
.NET to write and compile a 20-line console program using only standard C libraries. Apparently gcc is "too much typing" for them. I say, bring on working copy-protection for all commercial software, please! And yes, I do realize what a pipe dream this is :)
I went back to University a few years ago and am just finishing up once again. The level of software piracy around here absolutely astounds me. As a personal goal, I've spent the past couple of years trying to rid myself entirely of any software that isn't 100% legit (whether it's free "educational" MS product, or OSS, or whatever). The time I sometimes spend trying to get work done is frustrating (need to print something that isn't in a University-approved file format? ie: anything not a Word doc or PDF?), but the personal satisfaction is worth it.
I rant almost daily about professors requiring us to hand in our work with MS-specific file formats, and my fellow classmates yawn and hand me a warezed copy of MS Office. OpenOffice is SO close, but still not 100% (as I learned after initially receiving a 0 on an assignment - thankfully the prof was understanding and let me re-submit it).
I really, REALLY would like to see upcoming versions of Windows and Office be 100% unpiratable. Most students I know aren't going to be shelling out hundreds of dollars to keep up with software when there's a free alternative that does what they need just fine. Give it a few years, and we'd have an entire school generation almost entirely unexposed to Microsoft's software. Other than games (about 99% of which are also pirated, incidentally), I just can't see Joe Student *needing* Windows, to the tune of paying for software licenses for it.
Hell, I've seen students fire up Visual Studio
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
Don't get me wrong, I am definitely pro Linux and use it on a daily basis, but what this article fails to mention is that Portland public schools have no money. Portland has had to cancel all kinds of extracurricular programs, shorten the school year, layoff teachers, etc. Most of the sports programs require the players to purchase their own equipment (for example). The local economy is hurting big time. Portland and Oregon as a whole has had some of the highest unemployment in the nation in past months. So it makes me wonder if the big Linux push at some of the schools is really because they are so "anti Microsoft", etc. or it is out of desperation because they can't afford anything else. Don't forget, Microsoft is headquartered only 180 miles north of Portland and employs several thousand people. I have many friends that have moved up there to take jobs with them. A lot of the contract tech jobs you can find in Portland are for Microsoft. So I think this whole anti-Microsoft thing is blown way out of proportion by articles such as this. Just my two cents.