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Introducing GNU/Linux Via Applications
An anonymous reader writes "A common problem with GNU/Linux for new users is not the operating system, but the switch in applications they must undertake to use it. Many who try to make the switch have little experience with the common open source applications available under GNU/Linux. The Kutztown GNU/Linux User Group, in Pennsylvania, is helping to change that on a large scale by distributing open source applications to faculty on Microsoft Windows machines first. Instead of selling GNU/Linux, the group is selling open source. Faculty at the school have been provided discs containing a number of popular open source applications compatible with Windows as part of a larger program to get more users to consider switching operating systems."
When KDE 4 is released, many of its apps will be compiled for windows. There are some of them like amarok and k3b that are the best in their class, including closed source ones, and there are others that are as good as the closed sourced ones like krita, krusader, scribus, kivio and some others.
When they are available for windows, and if you also consider firefox, thunderbird and openoffice you will be able to run a windows system with most of the applications open sourced.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
We handed out CDs with Windows versions of FOSS apps. If people find that they can do their jobs just fine with those apps instead of Windows-only apps, then the OS doesn't matter to them anymore. Then Ubuntu came along with a combo live CD and Windows installer for several FOSS apps as an added bonus, so we've settled on that as our new sampler. I do get a kick out of the fact that Kubuntu has Firefox for Windows on the CD, but not for Linux. (Not that synaptic can't add it in a hurry.)
[100% ISO 646 Compliant]
SVM, ERGO MONSTRO.
This is a good idea. Instead of alienating users, they can make them more familiar with the benefits of open-source while letting them keep the OS they know how to use.
Exactly. It's pretty much how I got Mrs. Otter switched over. She was reluctant to give up Windows due to its familiarity. Bit by bit, switched her to Firefox, OpenOffice, and Gaim - which covered the majority of what she used a PC for. The KDE switch came later - but the idea of switching wasn't as intimidating by then - I was able to promise her that all the applications would still be there.
It's not really the "open source" that sold her, though (although the notion of free-as-in-beer software bowls her over) - its the cross-platform aspect you gain with it that brings the idea of switching into a more comfortable space. Further evidenced when we got a Mac, and she still found all the same applications she had come to know.
Running Windows^H^H^H^H^H^H^H OSX and Linux in the home. (I don't have time for Solitaire any more.)
I rarely post, but I feel I should chime in. I've been conditioning my own self to using FOSS apps for a while now so that I can make the switch to Linux a lot easier down the road. There are only a couple applications left for me (Photoshop being the deal-breaker). I'm never going to upgrade to Vista, I'm just going to switch over to something like Ubuntu when I get to the point where I would need to upgrade. By then I hope we'll have a native Photoshop on Linux, or a more robust solution on WINE at least.
I was a newbie with both Photoshop and Gimp. Here are the results:
- With Gimp, I could draw some images, but I couldn't draw lines with it (later I learned how to do that)
- With Photoshop, I couldn't draw anything. Never figured out how to do this.
So I think that both are complex and not intuitive enough. But because other is free and the other is not, I would certainly choose Gimp and learn using it.
I had an experience with this kind of thing just today. My music education class is taking a short detour into technology use in the classroom for the next couple of weeks. I was happily surprised to note that one of the prominent examples of music software to use was Audacity. The link was in big bold letters on the handout: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
I heard about this great web browser that was more secure than IE and had lots of cool plugins, so I switched to Firefox.
I got fed up with Office XP crashing all the time, so I switched to OpenOffice.
I got fed up with all the obtrusive ads from AIM, so I switched to Gaim.
I got fed up with inconsistencies in windows media player, so I switched to VLC (for video).
My anti-virus came up for renewal. It was $30 for a year. The only software I used by this time that wasn't on Linux was iTunes, and Amarok does everything I need. Rather than fork over $30, I made a rather smooth transition to Linux. Some months later, my girlfriend followed suit (it's worth noting, she asked me to help her switch, there wasn't much prodding on my part).
Introducing people to open source, cross platform applications lets people make one adaptation at a time. Eventually there may come a time where switching to Linux seems easier than keeping Windows. If you try and switch someone to Linux all at once, you're likely to fail. If you get them to use cross platform apps first, the switch to Linux isn't too big of a leap.
KDE for Windows would be nice, as well as Gnome for Windows. But what would really be helpful is an EASY way to set up a Linux application environment on Windows similar to Wine on Linux. That way users can get used to not only OpenOffice and Firefox, but also programs like Evolution, Grip, gEdit/KEdit, etc. so that when they finally switch over to Linux they won't have to figure out such things as "now what program do I use to replace iTunes that doesn't run on Windows and therefore I couldn't use/get frustrated with until now?" Does such a thing as "inverted Wine" exist, or is it going to be a by-application experience?
If you only want to call it one word (which is very reasonable), that word is GNU. Because that is the operating system you are running: The GNU operating system.
You don't refer to Windows XP as "NTKRNL32.EXE" either.
You know, Microsoft's street address also says a lot about their mentality.
I've recently installed Open Office and Gimp on a few of my customers M$ machines when they were facing the option of a $$$$ M$ Office & Adobe photoshop purchase.
Your clients, customers, I dare say aren't graphic or photography pros, are they? There's just no way GIMP comes close to being a dropin replacement for Photoshop! It doesn't even have 16 bit colour channels whereas Photoshop has 24 bit channels. And I've hear CS3 will have 32 bit channels.
FalconShould there be a Law?
I started using firefox, then thunderbird, then gaim, then AVG, then Zone Alarm before I new it the only MS junk I had installed was office (wife needs publisher and uses Word and work) and XP. I've tried to get rid of windows (I've filed 3 separate times. I got Ubuntu working but my lexmark printer wouldn't work (grrr). So it was back to windows. I would agree open aps is the first step in switching to linux os but things need to be plug and play, I need to install it as easily as windows and have it run as easily. I and others can't waste a day trying to get more than half a document to print.