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Trivial Barriers to Personal Linux Use?
saintp asks: "I'm currently multitasking: building a computer for my girlfriend, and also trying to convince her to put Linux on it, so I've been thinking a lot lately about the barriers to adoption of Linux by Normal Everyday People. One that seems to be a major problem is that Windows users are addicted to downloading every piece of crapware that comes down the tubes -- hence the popularity of Gator and subsequent popularity of Ad-Aware. While geeks the world over sigh at this behavior, it makes a lot of people really happy, and they are very chagrined to discover that they can't do this on Linux without some command line mucking about, compilation, etc. What other minor, apparently trivial barriers exist to personal Linux use? Is anything being done to address these, or do many of the major vendors seem to be focusing exclusively on the business market, possibly to the detriment of Linux in the long run?"
It's a pain to install software on Linux compared to Windows. What I'd like to see is a nice, standardized binary distribution method, with good OS integration. RPM is good, but requires opening it in a program. What I'd like to see is a way to, by simply double-clicking on the RPM, install it to the directory of my choice (e.g. have it bring up an installer similar to the ones commonly used in Windows). Also, the directory structure in Linux is relatively confusing to work with. How about a single, unified folder for my programs, like Windows' Program Files folder? I've heard of a distribution that uses a directory structure similar to Windows', but it's definitely not one of the larger ones.
Check out Sun Java Desktop System. It is a OS based on a Linux kernel and Suse Linux.
Though you won't be able click and install applications, like one would do on a Window box, but Java Desktop System is a very close to it.
I think Sun Java desktop introduced a happy medium. Making it too easy to install software, increase chances of getting infected by a virus, worm etc.
Here are some more presentations on Sun Java Desktop
Consensus is good, but informed dictatorship is better
I use Linux most of the time. The only reason I sometimes (too often) boot to Windows, is when I want to either play a game or do some genealogy. There aren't many games for Linux - not very popular, at least - and there are certainly no genealogy software which can compete with the genealogy software developed for Windows. I guess I can live with that.
:)
What concerns me most is the situation for the rest of the family; We are Norwegians, and my father does some accounting for a few locale companies. I've yet to see a decent accounting application for Linux which works according to Norwegian rules. We're actually talking about one application which separates my father from using Linux instead of Windows.
My brother took over my father's farm a year ago. He needs Windows for some special software related to running a farm. Once again - it's only one piece of software.
My other brother doesn't have this problem, but he's not so good in English. I would have loved to install Linux on his laptop so that I didn't have to help him out every time Windows f*cked up. But most of the Linux software lacks in the localization field. Not many applications are being translated to Norwegian.
Conclusion: Some special software which still looks a few years from now, and the lack of localizing the most popular software. I guess both of these problems will be solved over time, but I would've given my lef...right foot for having it solved now.
I have to keep screwing with it.
Seriously. I mean, I like messing about with computers, OS flavors, etc, etc. I've currently got a couple different flavors of linux, looking for a third, and am thinking about a BSD. It's just lack of space for hardware that keeps me from having more toys. It's nice to use, it's powerful, it's flexible..
However, I'm not always in the mood to sit down and figure out why something doesn't work right. For instance, why Mandrake currently has told me three times in a row that my glibc is out of date. And upgraded it to the newest version each time. (Yes, using "mandrake update".) Oh, and doing so BROKE Mandrake Update. My OS update feature broke itself. I'm sure this is fixable, but why should I have to screw with it just to make the admin tools work again?
My mouse. It's got 5 buttons. Why the HELL would I want to install a program, tweak multiple files, and chant ominously just to get the side buttons working? I know how, sure. It's just I have better things to do.
I don't WANT to make my game work. I want my game to WORK. I don't want to have to make X program load properly, or hand-twiddle a configuration file. I want to open a damn document, view it, edit it, and save it with formatting. No, I don't want to learn TeX to do it. I know I CAN, but why do I have to?
Seriously. I'm a damn hobbyist, and I do these things for fun, and it still pisses me off that I have to spend more time playing with it to make it work than it does working. Updates shouldn't break things. Upgrades shouldn't cause triple-layered dependency hell. THere shouldn't be dependency hell at all. We hate "dll hell", why is fucking about trying to find just the right version of a given module acceptable? I mean, there's girls and liquor and music out there for me, why should I spend all my time fixing something that can just work? (I know it can. Apple did it. It's been done once, thus can be done again. It's just not BEING done.)
Choice? Screw choice! I want function! Would you drive a car if you had to put the damn wheels on every time you parked it? Would you put up with having to buy the correct grade of gas from JUST th right pump style, from the exact proper petrol chain, just to start the car in the morning?
For fuck's sake, the 2.6 upgrade, which I look forward to installing on GENTOO for the love of god, isn't covered by the documentation, requires a full replacement of the main module utilities, and Still might not work right. I CAN'T RTFM, since this shit isn't IN the FM to R.
I think you get the idea.
I love doing this stuff, and it STILL pisses me off and drives me to drink. What do you think your granny's going to do?
Go back to windows, or Mac, or something that does what she wants, when she wants it, and doesn't have to be babysat.
And enough with the goddamn text editors, people. I understand you like them, but I don't need 50 of them. Spend the time you used to put those on my distro app disk to make sure the distro doesn't randomly shit itself.
(Not bitter or anything, me...)
Why not create an installer packaging program like the ones used on Windows and MacOS? This seems like something that would be good for KDE and Gnome to work on together. This packaging system would be great for beginning and desktop users, while not necessarily attempting to replace the myriad packaging systems already out there. I think that this is an important caveat - a lot of the packaging systems that linux distros use have a lot of features that are great for unix manglers, but from a desktop OS standpoint they qualify as creeping featurism and add excessive complication to the whole installation process. Also, using an InstallShield type system means that different packages can have slightly different install processes, depending on what needs to be done to get the package working.
The directory structure is also something that doesn't necessarily need to be scrapped - I personally think it's a Very Good layout from a server/workstation administration standpoint, although I agree that it's terrible for a desktop computer. Again, I think OS X has hit on a very good solution - keep two separate file structures. One would be aimed at a desktop user and would be visible through the desktop environment. Applications that a desktop user needs can be placed here. Keep the old file tree, but make it invisible to the desktop environment (by default, anyway).
This system isn't without its faults, but I've found it to be an excellent comrpomise on OS X.
Or people could bitch about the fact that Lindows runs EVERY DAMN THING as root.
I think this is one of the most interesting problems. Many users love their Hotbar and ever-changing desktops, even when I explain that it's what's making their computers run at the speed of a drugged slug.
I have one particular user, a cute girl, who just loves her Hotbar. "It's pretty!" she gushes. And of course her desktop picture is filled with Pink, her favourite colour.
I have been quite surprised how much people get attached to these things. As someone who doesn't even switch away from the default MacOS X desktop theme (it's tasteful!), I find them absolutely bewildering
But since they love their Hotbars, I leave them alone, because above all, I want my users to be happy. Happy users are productive users. And so on.
But why are people addicted to things as silly as ever-changing resource-killing screensavers, and Hotbar?
I'd love to know.
D
Setting up CUPS is easy, but the drives available for my Canon BJC-3000 printer all SUCK. Normal printing is all faded, and even the "high quality" printing (which takes FOREVER to print) still has crappy colors.
My wife wants to print things like cards or color signs and labels. Until someone writes a much better BJC-3000 driver, (I'm using the gimp-print-4.2.5 driver) I'll have to keep that windows partition around.
"More organs means more human." - Zim
Frankly, I don't feel like pluging into the user forums and mailing lists only to get flamed because I didn't read the entire 400 pp manual accessible only with less.
I don't feel like getting flamed on IRC or Usenet or Slashdot for asking what to me is a really hard question and to you what is really easy.
I don't feel like it because right now I've got what I need on Windows. If some day I can switch to Linux with a little online support that will not result in a bunch of elitist geeks calling me whiny or annoying or stupid just because I asked a question or tried to answer a question that f********* calls for people to be whiny in the damn first place, then maybe I'll switch.
If you want people to join your &#&$##@ club, don't bitch them out when they walk in for the first time. It's just basic.
Over the past decade or so I've tried Linux on and off a half-dozen times. Every time, I've gone back to Windows, which blows goats but at least lets me get my g.d. work done instead of having to continually f*** with obscure configuration files.
But I've installed FreeBSD a week ago, and it's going along pretty well. There's still a fair bit of f***ing with configs, but less so: it's secure from the start.
FreeBSD feels, to me, like it was designed. Linux always feels like it just accumulated by accident.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Just go to distrowatch.com and read the rave reviews.
:)
It looks good, it detected all my hardware on multiple machines and set everything up properly, and it's extremely user friendly.
IMHO, the best desktop Linux distribution on the market today. And I've been using Linux since '95 and have never seen it as well put together as Xandros.
Oh, and it has shiny graphical interfaces for software installation and what not.
Try it.
She'll love you for introducing her to OSX.
...)
(Put Konfabulator on there first, and set up a few nice widgets for her
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
In response to commentary about 'how to make linux better'
Windows has its place. It is for people who do not WANT to learn how to use a computer. It is for my grandma, so she can play freecell and online bingo. It is for businessmen who are being payed to conduct business, not learn a computer.
It is NOT something which should be emulated by a real operating system. It is NOT something linux should be competing against for marketshare.
WHY?
-FreeBSD, (one of?) the finest OS on the market has no emulation of windows; its users understand their role in the computing industry: the role of the elite. Those who have learned all they could from linux and continued to grow in the technical field.
-Linux will always have a marketshare: those who understand and want to understand computers. Those who are tired of being limited by windows (and its damn in-kernel processing of display... worst idea EVER!).
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
-Everything in linux is designed as it is FOR A REASON... comments like "linux needs a unified folder system, because linux is too hard to figure out" are responded to with Nietzschen rage and whifflebats.
--corrolary: it is 1000X easier to find [system components, program files, server configuration files, you NAME it] in Linux than it is in windows... go to its particular root directory subfolder... if you dont know which one that is, check online. not that hard: IF YOU TAKE THE TIME TO LEARN.
--corrolary: i have a whiffleball bat. not afraid to use it.
--corrolary: Linux is well designed. Windows is not. for this reason alone, windows will fall in the OS war... to my whiffleball bat...
whoa, its my old friend the flamebait bot. w00t!
"this is the gloaming"
radiohead