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Introducing GNU/Linux Via Applications

Posted by kdawson on from the in-the-side-door dept.

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."

16 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Good idea by ksd1337 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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. Wow, a first post. I never thought I'd make it.

    1. Re:Good idea by Seumas · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Agreed. This is a rather simple step to take, but one that a lot of us might not consider if we are in the position to make such decisions and efforts. OSS and Linux can be introduced in baby-steps, until the targeted person or persons is using largely open and free applications and even operating systems without really even realizing it.

      We're often too forceful with our fanatical upholding of our favored philosophies and operating systems to the detriment of our own goals. Our enthusiasm can't be forced on someone else. The enthusiasm can be seeded in another person, though. And if you cultivate it slowly and carefully, they will appreciate it even grow to feel they discovered it of their own accord, which will make them more willing to promote and evangelize the experience and the products than if we forced it on them wholesale out of the blue.

    2. Re:Good idea by dvice_null · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > while letting them keep the OS they know how to use

      I disagree. Majority of the users of Windows don't actually know how to use it. If they have problems, they need help. And during the normal everyday use, they don't actually use the OS at all, they just use the programs installed on it.

      I asked my wife after 6 months of using Ubuntu how does she feel about using Linux and she replied. "What do you mean, I have just surfed the web and written some emails and edited some pictures. I haven't used Linux".

      So basicly if we can replace Photoshop, Office, Outlook and IE. There is no problem replacing the Windows complitely. As long as someone is providing them the support they used to have with Windows also. (Which they probably need less with the Linux.)

  2. OpenCD by nharmon · · Score: 4, Informative

    I enjoy giving away copies of the OpenCD. It contains a lot of common open source programs that run under Microsoft Windows.

    1. Re:OpenCD by JacquesDemien · · Score: 3, Informative
      I am often asked by family, friends, and coworkers (I work in IT and have contact with a large number of end-users) what applications I use, and what I recommend that they use. I do suggest GNU/Linux, but clearly most of them are using Windows and prefer to keep it that way for now. Here is the list of applications which I usually give them. Granted, some of these are NOT "free as in freedom" but are rather just "free as in beer" since, as noted elsewhere in this thread, for some categories of software there is no open source package available for Windows, or at least none available that your proverbial Grandma could be expected to use without installing Cygwin or something. (Obviously this list is aimed more at your Grandma than at the average GNU/Linux user, since that is the target audience. In real life I only use some of these applications myself. However, I do support family and friends who use them.) You could, of course, argue that better choices could be made, and you'd be correct.... General Tools

      Internet Tools

      Basic Tools

      Security Tools

      Advanced Tools

    2. Re:OpenCD by bcrowell · · Score: 3, Informative

      Here is a similar CD of free books, intended mainly to be given away to university professors to let them know there are free alternatives to low-quality, high-cost textbooks.

      --
      Find free books.
  3. KDE 4 by javilon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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."
    1. Re:KDE 4 by pavon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The tenative release date for KDE 4 (unix) is around the end of October. The developers hope for the Windows port to be runnable (technology preview / alpha quality) at that time. I know, I am chomping at the bit myself :)

    2. Re:KDE 4 by Odin+The+Ravager · · Score: 3, Informative
      Actually, amarok won't be ported for a while (if ever)
      from the amarok developer's blog:

      amaroK will not be ported to windows until (if ever):

      * amaroK 2.0, which will use the Qt 4 toolkit. Qt 3.x releases, although have windows editions, are not compatible with the amaroK GPL license
      * KDE-libs, and respective engines are ported to windows
      * There is an open source windows developer willing to do all the hard work. There is as much chance of any of the current dev's porting to windows as there is
      copyrighted music download becoming free. I'll do it if it does.

      So, stop harrasing us - it's not going to happen for a while.
  4. At KCLUG, we called it the 'Gateway Drug' by The+Monster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  5. Re:"GNU/Linux" by FMota91 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Because Linux is only the kernel, and what most people know as Linux is actually Linux + GNU Programs. So, calling it GNU/Linux is more accurate.

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  6. Re:"GNU/Linux" by orclevegam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because when you refer to it as just Linux, it makes RMS cry.

    --
    Curiosity was framed, Ignorance killed the cat.
  7. Re:What is with the GNU tag? by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Informative

    People keep referring to Linux and Linux-based distributions with this 'GNU' thing in the name? What's up with that?

    I hope you are being funny, but if you are not, I will explain. or even if you are, in case someone else wants to know.

    The assertion is that it should be called GNU/Linux because Linux depends on GNU for userspace, build tools, et cetera.

    This was once true, but is actually not true any more.

    Debian is explicitly called Debian GNU/Linux for this reason. Debian is pretty much the gnuest (but not the newest, ha ha) distribution out there. It has higher ideals than any other Linux that I'm aware of; read the Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) for more information.

    Richard Stallman has written a whiny diatribe on the subject entitled Linux and the GNU Project. Here is an excerpt:

    "What they found was no accident--it was the not-quite-complete GNU system. The available free software added up to a complete system because the GNU Project had been working since 1984 to make one. In the The GNU Manifesto we set forth the goal of developing a free Unix-like system, called GNU. The Initial Announcement of the GNU Project also outlines some of the original plans for the GNU system. By the time Linux was written, GNU was almost finished."

    GNU was almost finished? Yeah, except for the lack of a useful kernel. When the HURD finally came out it was extraordinarily limited for an operating system of its day, including a lack of support for filesystems over 2GB.

    You may have noticed that I have no sympathy for the view of forcing people to call it GNU/Linux. Why not? Because it's inconsistent. As per the terms of the GPL I am free to fork GCC and call it something entirely different that has nothing to do with GNU. No one is trying to take anything away from GNU or the FSF by calling various Linux distributions Linux. No one is trying to hide the fact that the majority of systems (but again, not all!) are based on or built with the GNU userland. They are only apparently not giving GNU sufficient credit. If GNU needs more credit, that should have been in the license. If it's not worth putting in the license, then shut up already.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  8. Re:Sure that'll work by dvice_null · · Score: 3, Informative

    > Why do you think people will "switch"?

    - You don't need to buy a new computer to get modern version of the operating system.
    - Updating programs is easier.
    - You don't need to fear viruses and spyware.
    - The computer works faster, because antivirus programs are not slowing it down.
    - Installing new programs is easier.
    - Not all have paid for it, Linux is an legal option.

  9. Re:Good start... by dvice_null · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  10. Re:What is with the GNU tag? by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This was once true, but is actually not true any more.

    You're right. Rather than using the GNU System on top of Linux you could take the userspace component of another Free unix-like system and run that on top of Linux. You could build a Solaris/Linux system or a NetBSD/Linux system. In addition, for embedded systems that don't need to be fully functional Unix-like systems, you can put a simpler userspace on top of the Linux kernel - this is commonly seen in embedded systems.

    But... you can't claim that Linux is a Unix-like operating system and also claim that the GNU component of GNU/Linux systems is trivial. Without GNU, Linux is not a general purpose operating system - you'd have to drop in an entire other Unix-like system in order to get Unix-like functionality without GNU. Without Linux, the GNU System will run fine on any of the BSD kernels, on the Solaris kernel, or even on the (still not ready for production use) GNU HURD kernel.

    To be very simple and clear: The GNU System has produced a Unix-like operating system that most commonly runs on the Linux kernel. The only replacements for GNU are other full Unix-like operating systems.

    --
    -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.