Slashdot Mirror
Linux For Housewives. XP For Geeks.
Talinom writes "ZDNet has an article sure to raise the hackles of any self-respecting geek. They report that housewives buying small laptops like the Asus EE are causing Linux usage for that demographic to spike. A reporter for Tech-On states that 'Retailers and contract manufacturers in Taiwan say that novice PC users there, like students and housewives, tend to buy the Linux version of the Eee PC701, while geeks go for Windows XP.'"
Housewives with Linux??!?! Geeks with Windows?!?! Dogs and cats living together?!?!? MASS HYSTERIA!!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I 4 1 amd welcomming our new script bashing apron wearing apple pie bakeing overlady's!
Will code for new sig.
Taiwan culture is not US culture, of course. I imagine that even Geek culture is different between the two cultures.
If you haven't been down-modded lately, you aren't trying.
Sacred cows make the best hamburger.
Well, I am not sure that housewives can't be geeks. Maybe they confuse geeks that are buying XP with idiots? I wouldn't think that a true 'geek' would give a rat's buttocks about what OS came on the hardware. I put what I want on there when I get home.
Half the fun of getting the EEEpc Linux is installing the ultra-slim version of XP yourself.
Maybe it is maybe Microsoft though of appealing to the market through reverse psychology, the Geeks buy it with XP so they can put Linux on it...
[J]
Most geeks realize that Windows for a few dollars extra (or the same price) is worth it, even if you're not a fan of Windows.
I wonder if they've gotten these things to successfully dual boot. Yes, I realize there's not a whole lot of disk memory, but you can add more, no? Even if it's plugged into an external SD slot?
Stupid sexy Flanders.
The article was short on details (aside from the study being in Taiwan), but my guess would be that the "geeks" are the ones playing video games, and unfortunately most of the big titles are constrained to Windows. On the other hand, a computer you're only using for e-mail and web browsing should opimally be as cheap as possible, and you certainly don't get cheaper on an OS than free.
The geeks are buying the XP version to install their own flavor of Linux as a dual-boot?
Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
Expect this to be the same here in western Europe. New users with no baggage go for easy linux, while experienced tech users (identified as 'geeks') use old and encumbered Windows.
She loves it because it fits in her hand bag, "it runs linux eh? what's linux? It does what I need it to do and it's cuuuttteee"
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
I didn't know that the day would come, when I would feel more unfamiliar (didn't say uncomfortable - but I guess that's coming, too, with Vista (oh yeah, I don't intend to move to Vista - ever)) in Windows than in Linux. But, alas, that day has come and now I have no clue how to troubleshoot Windows anymore. It's just way too arcane and complicated. In Linux and Solaris I know how to at least start troubleshooting, and then I can search the 'net for specific keywords (error messages, log entries, etc.). Some of this could probably be done with Windows as well, but I just find the "whole experience" of troubleshooting it, more hairy and unsettling.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Yep. Because obviously somebody can't like or buy ANYTHING big/fast/cool these days without it being to make up for "inadequacies".
Do you do the reverse? I know I don't look at the guy pulling out of the shoebox apartment (old Pentium 75 visible through the windows) in a rusted out Geo Metro and think "Man, I bet he's hung.".
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
Housewives are used to getting the products that have the best cost-benefit ratio.
The Eee is a machine that provides wireless web browsing and email, instant messaging, etc.
And it's cheaper without XP.
It's a no-brainer then.
As for why do geeks prefer XP? I can speak for myself and say that I thoroughly know the beast, it is a pleasure to google for the most wild assed software/driver you can think of and find that due to the widespread presence of the thing, pretty sure SOMEONE has gone through the same ordeal as you, and has posted a workaround.
It works, and given current hardware configurations and provided that you configure it properly, it is FAST.
I know it is light years away from an elegant OS from an academic's point of view, but I rather have XP on an Eee and be open to all the possibilities of interaction with other peripherals (oh, how our choice of words reveal one's age) than spending time tweaking linux.
I bough the 701 4G a few months ago. My father in law liked it so much, and after hearing the price, ordered two for his kids: 4yo and 12yo. (Kids from his second wife: I'm not married to a 4yo or 12yo).
Anyway, I'm surprised to hear the geeks take the XP version. I'm actually quite happy with the default Xandros install. It even has perl, ruby and python for crying out loud!
So, which is it? We get our hackles raised over non-geeks using a Linux-based OS, or we want it to be the year of Linux on the desktop/laptop/toaster/BOV? Let them use it. Let them tell their friends how amazing it is, and then their friends' friends. Imagine a legion of housewives telling everyone they know about this "New Windows" that is faster, cheaper to use and doesn't get that "blue screen thingy."
If nothing else works, a total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through.
I guess that instead of the year of the linux desktop we should be celebrating the year of the linux laptop
Funny, Considering the fact that Linux + laptops used to be one of the biggest headaches in the world.
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
Windows XP is a dangerous toy, much like a sports car: High upkeep, hard to handle, always broken in some way.
Housewives don't want to play with the computer, they want to get the job done. As long as they stay within the preconfigured range of capabilities, Linux is fire-and-forget.
My 40-something housewife non-geek sister called me last month and told me all about her cute new Asus ePC. She loves it. I have no idea where she heard about it or what lead her to purchase it. I was really so surprised I forgot to ask. She's visiting me this week and I'm looking forward to her demonstration.
2008 will be the year of XP on the desktop!
Er, laptop. whatever.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
I've never bought a copy of linux.
Or windows, for that matter.
_>
Cheer up, young fellow, and read A Nerd's Guide to Getting Laid.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Does this mean I am going to have to start using UNIX if I want to feel like an elitist-asshole?
In many cases a more technical person has to have a Windows OS, either because they have to test against it, or they code in Visual Studio, or run some XP only app.
The prevailing mindset is that it is better to run the same OS at home as at work, if, for no other reason, the work software can be often be used at home as well. But with all the free and cheap software, and with the often extreme difficulty of keeping a MS Windows machine running, it is no longer a sure bet to run MS Windows at home. Many people are realizing that MS Windows is targeted to the corporate user, and requires corporate resources for the average person to use.
*nix, OTOH, if it is kept simple, and has some vendor support, can be run by the average person.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Geeks play games that run under XP. Housewives (househusbands, most of the rest of the universe) don't play games often, and when they do, they're browser-based or included in the OS.
Nothing to see here.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
I bet this is tough news for a bunch of us. It's not that I have a problem sheding the geek moniker, I welcome it.
But discovering you are not who you thought you were is still hard.
It is rather like growing up in a "not respected" family, and then finding out you were born a royal, and switched at birth.
You know, this was such an easy one to see.
for the past ten plus years I would download a copy of some Linux distro and install it on a spare PC. It would be bloated, ugly, techy, just too much for the normal casual internet user. I would then strip it of it's bulk(emac anyone), make it look super pretty and super easy, throw some Hello Kitty like wallpaper on it, then all of a sudden the girlfriend at the time was interested in using it!
...as for XP for geeks? Someone is smoking some serious Bill Gates produced crack.
There's some truth to the article, except that real geeks aren't using Windows at all. The situation is basically "average joe" and "doesn't know any better" are using windows but linux is fine for everyone else.
I'm still waiting for a linux based eeepc without a we-pay-MS-patent-protection-money-distro like Xandros! Come to think of it, even FreeDOS would do :)
I can think of several reasons a geek might get XP while preferring Linux. A job that lets you telecommute but doesn't supply a notebook or a Linux-friendly way on to the VPN. Getting locked into XP through years of acquiring familiar apps and tools. Shelling out cash on specialty hardware before checking Linux compatibility. Pouncing on the chance to snap up XP just to hedge their bets before they can only count on finding Vista. And then there's always the people who intend to dual-boot. You'll see them buying XP, then they'll get Linux without alerting the media.
TFA article is pretty clear on why the housewife wants the Linux Eee PC. But it doesn't even tell you what they meant by "geek" - fondness for games? already uses more than two programs that didn't come on a computer? computer literacy? - much less offer any reasoning.
Finally modding someone offtopic when they rant about what "Begging the Question" means: priceless.
Linux For Housewives.
Hey, some of us read Slashdot at work! Can we at least keep the porn off the front page, please?
iPod's were purchased by everybody and their mother. People with no interest in computers or high end stereo equipment or portable audio all of a sudden bought expensive iPods. Now people with not a ton of interest in computers, and definately not in really expensive ones, see a computer that's inexpensive and has an OS that is actually very friendly to newbies, and they are eating it up.
If you haven't tried an EEE and are surprised by the idea of non-geeks using Linux, you should try one with the default setup. A few people I know that were never particularly adept at figuring stuff out in Windows, people that definately don't qualify as geeks, have been picking up the cheapest EEE to use for web browsing and music playing. Then, all of a sudden, they started doing things like switching to the full desktop mode, adding new applications, doing what they have to to get the EEE to support what they want to do.
I'm no UI designer, that's for sure, but there is definately something about the EEE's flavor of linux that has gotten a lot of non-computer types to delve into really learning about and customizing their OS. That's not the case with everybody obviously, but in general there is a level of accessibility in the EEE's setup that seems to just make people happy.
1 (short ton / firkin) = 89.1432354 slugs / keg
Linux... housewives? Only cheesy pr0n can result. "I'm here to repair your Linux install ma'am. OOohh, I see the problem right here. I just need to $unzip this and $touch that. Now let's $fsck!" ~Bow chica wow wow~
If you consider what an XP license is worth, I would probably choose the laptop with XP and then put the flavor of Linux on that I want...
House Wives running linux? Like Mrs. Roberts?
One problem is that some manufacturers are releasing certain models with only one operating system choice.
Take MSI's Wind. It is available in both Linux and Windows flavors. However, a number of more high-end features (6 cell battery, bluetooth, etc.) are only available on models shipping with XP. Most consumers probably aren't going to be too interested in paying extra for these, but technology enthusiasts are.
I plan to buy a 6-cell Wind with XP, wipe it, then install my distro of choice.
Do you do the reverse? I know I don't look at the guy pulling out of the shoebox apartment (old Pentium 75 visible through the windows) in a rusted out Geo Metro and think "Man, I bet he's hung.".
Shame. he probably spent the rest of his wages on penis enlargement.
I can verify this. Lately I've started to feel like a drug dealer. It all started when I put Linux on the mother in laws PC. For years I had the dubious role of family head geek, always clearing off malware and reinstalling Windows - of course it gave me a glow of feeling wanted, but also being taken for granted. Then one day I told her about Linux while we were eating dinner. Instead of the expected response she said.. "That sounds interesting, can you install it on my computer?"
Initially I started backpeddling. "It would be too complicated", "You wouldn't know where the menus are".. and the more I took this line the more she became determined that she would try it. (Tip to advocates; Instead of gushing with enthusiasm try this strategy instead, it works)
I think us male geeks underestimate mums and grans. After I ran the first update to fix a problem with Firefox I didn't hear anything from her. Not for months. When I asked "How are you getting on with Linux?" she said "Oh just fine thanks!". And I thought, hmm she is probably too embarrased to say that she's broken it and doesn't understand anything. So, I thought I would be out of a job. Either she's given up on computers or it never goes wrong. Last time I went round Synaptic was open on the desktop. Next time I go over I expect she'll be recompiling a kernel.
Anyway, now I get asked all the time "Mrs McCallum at number 50 wants Linux"
It's always the husband or the son who are looking daggers at me. "Mum won't know how to use Linux. It's too complicated. Why are you doing this?"
And it's always the woman who is robustly telling them to shut up... "It's *MY* computer and I'll have what I want on it"
So now I hear them at parties talking to friends.
"Oh, we use Linux of course..."
"What's that?"
"Well, it's not for everyone....it's probably too complicated for you..."
Gentlemen, we are seeing a revolution. It's not the young geeks who are ringing the changes. It's the housewives. And in England, when the housewives mobilise you take notice. Something has got to them. Maybe it was a feature on Richard and Judy about Linux, or something on Radio 2... maybe it's the cute penguin.
I bought an HP2133 with Vista even though it is available with SUSE. When I bought it the only way to get the most powerful hardware was to buy the Vista configuration. It was my first experience with Vista so I played with it for a few days, but now it is happily running Kubuntu. It is not even dual boot; 100% all Linux. If I could have gotten the big iron with SUSE I would have.
I hate to say this on slashdot, but the Linux version of the eeepc comes with better hardware out of the box. It also presents a proposition for users to wean themselves OFF Mr Softy products. i.e. if they can live with Linux on their small form factor Asus, then why pay for MS Office and other MS products when Free, or very economical, Linux apps are readily available! You don't think that MS is concerned about this? That's why the small form XP was suddenly made available for these machines at a rock bottom price. So it seems that housewives and MS know something geeks don't!
Wimins? On computers? What will they try next....
I mean now Linux is easier to use than Windows, or at least pre-installed linux's machines are easy to use, as I still can' get my laptop wifi card to work. And how is vista doing in taiwan? (I haven't read the article yet)
Housewives - buying Linux version of the EeePC cause it is CHEAP.
Students - buying Linux versions cause they will promptly replace it with a pirated Windows version. Why pay for an OS when its available FOR FREE?
Geeks - buying XP cause they DON'T WANT TO BUY VISTA and they DO want to buy a computer with stronger/better components.
Such machines usually come with a OEM version of Windows whether you like it or not.
BTW... article is crap.
It fails to even say if it is the case of Linux and XP versions of EeePC or are they talking about Linux EeePCs and XP preloaded PCs in general.
If the operating system (OS) doesn't need to emphasize business use, Linux is a good choice, because its graphical user interface (GUI) software is quite mature. Retailers and contract manufacturers in Taiwan say that novice PC users there, like students and housewives, tend to buy the Linux version of the Eee PC701, while geeks go for Windows XP. The Linux version comes with a launcher providing pre-installed applications, Web services and other features at a click. The design was probably adopted to make the system even easier to use.
Maybe because that was NOT THE POINT of the article?
Something about the title... I don't know... ("Ultra Low-Cost PCs Dominate the Market")
Really guys... Why this flamebait?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Lets unleash their nagging at Microsoft for DirectX support... now it is only a matter of time. Sit back and wait.
I thought you were talking about a dildo...
Geeks play games. Housewives don't. OK, that stereotype has been busted by some of the "casual games", and the game demographic in general has become more evenly balanced. How about this: Geeks need XP for work, housewives don't. Follow this with: They're using it as their primary OS, but what are they running in a VM?
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
iPhone does email, web, photos, music, videos, youtube, maps, calendar, notes, calculator, chat, weather, stocks... and soon games and a remote control for iTunes... oh yeah and it's a phone with voicemail inbox... and it's super cool to boot.
She uses it constantly. Best purchase I ever made. Beats a laptop hands down for her needs and it fits in her tiny little handbag, doesn't have moving parts to break and I don't have to do ANY tech support.
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
Most geeks realize that Windows for a few dollars extra (or the same price) is worth it, even if you're not a fan of Windows.
Most real geeks realize that the Windows version is *more* expensive and with some sub-notebooks, is only available on machine with *lower* specs (due to licensing issues created to avoid concurrencing Vista) - as recently mentioned on /.
Most true geeks will be able to slap a legit installation of WinXP obtained for free anyway if they really need it (through their university's MSDNAA for example).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
We must be shopping at the same place!
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
God damn it, McGrew. NSFW...
Filters catch the things that you regularly post in your journals. Not a problem, but do us the courtesy of perusing your posts and flagging as appropriate.
Your journals are often funny and I'd read them at home - IF I WASN'T SO PISSED THAT I'D CLICKED THROUGH AT WORK AND WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN MYSELF TO THE IT NAZIS!!!
Damn it.
That makes sense to me.
If you're already a Linux geek... you're going to use Linux.
If you're already a Windows geek... you probably already have a few hundred of your favorite apps you don't want to leave behind or emulate, working in a system you understand, and can easily troubleshoot if need be.
And if you're not really into computers, you just want to surf the web, check mail, send IMs, and maybe type up a document or two - anything can do that, so why NOT Linux?
I run OS X and XP on my main laptop, XP on my secondary laptop, XP on my main desktop, 2003 Server on my secondary, and Linux on my OLPC XO-1... each has its uses.
My entire family, including my 3 year old, use linux. Webkinz runs just fine. I even have the 6 year old learning to code c++ in the KDevelop IDE.
find a way to make there game run with wine so they would not need windows... anyways geeks can always install linux on their own... Housewives I am sure are able to install linux on their own but then why would they need geeks, or computers pre-installed?
A friend of mine, a serious geek (and CS major) decided to buy the XP version because ABC has a proprietary video plugin not available on Linux (and that doesn't appear likely to become so.)
So there is a valid reason to use windows over Linux unfortunately. Although, when he was looking at it, he was trying to see if dual-booting was a possibility with 4 gigs of HD.
Apple missed a lot when they didn't have a focused CEO at the helm like any computer. Whether you like or hate Steve Jobs, he has Apple focused on a strategy. It may or may not be the right strategy but they are working on the two or three things that they think will keep them ahead. It is clear that Apple wants no part in the ultra-cheap computer market. They have never wanted that market. That market is killing Dell right now. IBM left the entire consumer market completely probably because they saw what was happening.
Also Apple has a history of using technology that they didn't invent if it works for them. In fact, they have led the market in using new technology that they didn't invent. The first iMacs were the first computers to use USB (and abandon their proprietary APC interfaces). USB was invented by Intel. AAC is their default music format and was invented by the people who created MP3 to be the successor to MP3. Macs today are Unix machines that come with a variety of Unix open source software like Samba.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Most non-geeks likely use computers to surf the Internet and read email. And they want their computer to just work. Giving relatives Linux on their PCs has long been the geeks answer to not having to provide tech support 24/7. Asus is doing themselves a favor in selling a Linux variant. I imagine it keeps their support calls to a minimum. A quick tutorial to show someone how to get to the Internet, and how to set up their email address, and they're done.
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -Albert Einstein
True story, I once worked with an ex-Dixon's manager who admitted they looked for ignorant and easily cowed staff because they could exploit them, whereas the technically capable could easily get better weekend jobs somewhere else. Of course, you can guess the kind of managers they employ.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
5 is 500% increase no? Or is that an arthmetic exception? Really, no suprise. Devices with fixed levels of functionality are a perfect place for LINUX. That is, the underlying complexity of the interface, OS install, app install, and maintenance tasks are masked just like an iPod or mobile. No suprise that geeks like Windows. It plays games. And, all the anti-MS talk was bound to backlash. Kids like what their parents hate. Think Windows is crap dad? Watch this...
/LabMonkey09
Crap, I did it again. My apologies.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Many people are realizing that MS Windows is targeted to the corporate user, and requires corporate resources for the average person to use.
So which operating system is targeted to somebody who wants to play both retail video games and independent video games?
My only question: What about geeky housewives?
Hey, that only makes sense.
MS Windows just can't catch with housewives until it becomes user-friendly like Linux... :P
I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of killer sig, which this margin is too narrow to contain.
Why should it raise anyone's hackles? I see it as a sign of success that Linux is now seen as beginners' stuff - of course, when I hear that "Linux is for beginners" I think "Yeah, that's all you know"; but with a smile. We've arrived.
I actually like WinXP SP2 despite having the knowledge to hack Linux onto a Linksys NSLU2 and compiling some of the packages myself on it. As much as folks complain that WinXP crashes, I've haven't seen that nasty blue screen in years. It comes from knowing how to set XP up and making sure your hardware isn't messed up. I haven't met many folks who actually go through the number of steps I do on a new WinXP setup which might explain why it works so well for me. When you use Opensource software such as SeaMonkey or Media Player Classic and FDDShow with WinXP it actually becomes very useful. I remember back in university when XP came out we were impressed. And these are CompSci students working on Sun Enterprise systems. Where Linux still shines the most however is as a stable server and of course it has a front-end interface (compiz) light-years ahead of Vista. XP's strengths are in games, video playback and pirating. To a geek like myself that's why I've stayed with XP. Everything works with near perfect stability and I have a blend of opensource and closed-source / pirated tools to fit my needs. For a regular person who doesn't care however and just wants to surf the web, Linux would probably work fine.
This story is missing the incredibly obvious, and it has nothing to do with gaming either. Geeks, as with all other people, have preferences and tend to use the system that they prefer as soon as they can.
Linux is not exactly a new OS (early 90s iirc), so the geeks (who have been aware of it the whole time) that prefer it already use it, and those that don't prefer it don't use it.
Housewives, on the other hand, are only just now becomming exposed to it via Eee and apparently Best Buy, so naturally you'd expect a huge influx from their group of the people who had been dealing with things they didn't know they didn't prefer.
In other words, new predator dropped into previously steady state software ecosystem, populations fluxuate! News at 11!!!!
Geeks want the XP version because the harddrive is larger.
Then one can install linux on top of that machine and keep the larger drive.
Why would more people using Linux make geeks upset?
My *guess* would be that some geeks get a sense of pride( hubris? ) from using software other people are (wrongfully) intimidated into avoiding.
I've been a programmer for 9 years. I have seen this way to much. Some IT person on some unconscious level considers himself a genius and puffs out his chest because he figured out something created by another human being ( he didn't crack the secret of the atom!) or he did a simple task in a visually intimidating way. It is called "symbol phobia". It is most commonly seen in math classes. Intelligent people intimidate themselves out of doing simple tasks because they get scared of unfamiliar symbols that express simple ideas. The thing is, at least with programmers, they buy into this too. So, if they do a no-brainer, but with scary looking commands versus a GUI they get more proud of themselves then they have a right to be.
So, my theory, my *opinion*, is that these linux using housewives are robbing the geeks of their aforementioned free ego boosts.
Not impressed
All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... what have the Housewives ever done done for us?
Brought us into the world!
From the forthcoming movie "Life of Geek Brian"
Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
for geeks who say Linux is too difficult for them to learn? Does this mean mom is more uber then some net admins out there?
and i put ubuntu on my Mum's laptop, she loves it and i no longer have any hassle with it stopping working. She doesn't know or care what it is, just that it works, and has soduku.
I suspect it's not really out of choice, just a case of going for the default or cheapest solution they're offered. Geeks on the otherhand know that XP will give them more options in terms of what they can put on the system.
Honestly, what does the average person need. Browsing, mail, photos?
"Photos" in many cases includes the operation of a flatbed scanner. A scanner received as a hand-me-down, birthday present, or Christmas present may not work in SANE even if it works in TWAIN.
Apparently the Eee PC housewives aren't horny, and those geeks aren't geeky enough.
Linux do lack polish and apps, so i stay with os x, which also has the best hardware.
But could it be that the geeks are buying them with XP, just to get another XP license to use for something else, knowing full well they can load their own Linux on it?
While the housewives, not really thinking about it - go with the cheaper model which just happens to have Linux pre-loaded?
Just a thought...
Who is general failure, and why is he reading my hard drive?
But the fact is, I have two PDAs that are Windows based and for synchronising calendars and emails, for the moment it has to be Outlook and Activesync to do that.
I also spend a lot of time minimising the footprint of XP as much as possible - I truly hate with a passion the default XP UI but I've used "Classic Explorer" for years now & can live with that.
Then I get XPLite, strip out the MS-provided apps that I never use and stick on my favourite free stuff like VLC, Media Player Classic, Firefox, Notepad++, The Gimp and a few others. And once I've thrown PuTTY on, I can SSH to my home server wherever I can get a low bandwidth Internet connection if I need my shell prompt.
To be honest, I've always thought of a geek as someone who just tries to find the best software to do the job he/she needs to and there's plenty of free or Open Source apps on Linux and Windows that are useful tools to have.
Yes, Linux does most of the stuff I need to do with computers and one day it would be nice to be able to just use one OS - but XP fills the gaps quite well and apart from a bit of extra time administrating more OSes on my PCs, I'm pretty happy with my whole computing experience.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Geeks buy the XP version for the license key, for the copy of windows that we found the CD for but can't seem to locate our key...
Sadly, this marks the fail point of the Slashdot-forwarded narrative that somehow, magically, technical people would prefer Teh Lunix.
This is even sadder than the day of Vista's retail release, which marked the point at which Vista's install based exceeded that of Teh Lunix... thereby killing the "Vista is a failure" meme before it could even begin (because, with an install base far exceeding that of Teh Lunix... if Vista is a failure, what does that mean Teh Lunix is?).
Will the next news be that Teh Lunix on Teh Desktop is a failure? Oh wait... Red Hat and others already conceeded that point.
Here's my personal take:
The default Xandros works fine and it's fun. It has a lot of nice applications that work well. Unfortunately you can't really add much additional software without seriously messing around with it. Once you mess around with it, the system is less stable. The other available Linux distros aren't really any better.
For a housewife, or any lady of the house, the EEE's default fits their needs. They just want to check their e-mail and surf the web. They don't want to worry about anything else, and their life will be good. They can see the pretty pictures, play the catchy tunes, watch the funny videos, and keep in touch with their friends and loved ones. For them the limits are acceptable, and that's all they need.
For "geeks" seeking ultra-portability, it gets a little more complicated. I needed to be able to burn CD/DVD's onto my portable USB drive, I needed to attach an SCR331 CAC reader, I wanted a decent image editor, and I needed it ready before Friday. You couldn't do that with Linux on the EEE.
Look, I really don't like having to use Windows on this thing. I'm a Mandriva fan myself! In spite of that, I've got some specific tasks to accomplish and time is a factor. I can't be trying out every distro that gets mentioned in the forums to see if it's going to work. I need a system that I can reliably set up time and time again in as short a time possible.
A housewife doesn't need this.
She just likes the "dainty cuteness".
For her, the Linux version is perfect!
On a desktop with handpicked hardware: I choose Linux.
I need a compact, highly portable computer.
On an ultra mobile PC with proprietary parts: Windows XP
Blessed with all the brains that God gave a duck's ass, and twice the charisma.
This is a bit of a joke. Has anyone noticed that the hardware of the XP version is different then the hardware of the Linux version? If I were to buy one I would be the XP one, not for XP, but for the extra RAM. It's too bad the author of the article didn't pay enough attention to figure it out.
the xp 701 and the linux 701 cost the same.
so, why not get the xp license to use for free,
and then install linux yourself on the laptop.
If that journal entry wasn't partly NSFW it wouldn't have been funny. What do people expect when it says "Guide to getting laid", a how-to make the bed guide, or a misspelled guide to Hawaiian greeting customs, or what?
btw, what is it with the NSFW paranoia? Is Slashdot really work-safe, or just easier to lie about? If you're a geek, can't you tunnel home and browse over a proxy if you're willing to break the rules? If all you browse is NSFW, shouldn't you get a new W (or a life)? Maybe at a net-porn company. I've hate to think what's NSF-there.
You don't? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoXcc-BZBb4
There's got to be a marketing corollary to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principal that properly explains the inevitable inaccuracies when modeling consumer behavior.
Then again the definition of 'Geek' has change somewhat in the past decade. You could be a computer geek and not know a single programming language nor know what bash is. That would be a geek- a windowz geek.
Remember: We're the article talks about Taiwanese students and housewives here, not Americans. (;
You didn't think I could type in these oven mitts on did you? Now now - stop trying to hop on that vpn!
No. Geeks don't go for XP. Only idiots go for XP.
Ok, so lots of housewives and otherwise novice PC users are buying Linux while the 'geeks' or technically savvy people are buying Windows.
Linux, get ready for lots of viruses! That's what it really takes to make Linux mainstream...that's how Windows did it right?
I'm planning some maintenance time tonight with wifey. Watching her skillful fingers on the command line is a pleasurable experience. I'm gawking. She already hates Microsoft and enjoys the stability of OS X. Getting her to the command line was hot. Now if Linux attracts the housewife market, what more can husbands ask for.
INSUFFICIENT CLEARANCE: DO NOT RIDE
does that make me a housewife?
I think I need to go solder something...
-V-
Who can decide a priori? Nobody.
-Sartre
Most any Linux distro comes with more power out of the box than any Windows version. It ships with most the apps a less computer savvy user needs, and comes with a more effective default interface. But, after extensive tuning, Windows comes up on top. The reason is simple. Almost all the sweet tools that are available for Linux can be gotten for Windows. The opposite ain't true. Explorer sucks, but there are shell replacements for that.
I agree that Linux is as usable or better today, but that is a recent accomplishment. At least for a "typical" end user in the sense of your item 2. For him or her, there are only two important points:
1) Get the hardware to run. That works fine in Ubuntu today, but it was not always so easy.
On my first Linux experiments about 10 years ago (SuSe 5.0 IIRC), I had to set the video parameters from text mode to get X11 into graphics mode. There was a helpful script, but without the opportunity to go back: one mistake and you had to re-run all of it. Similarly, mounting drives required editing of fstab ;-)
Fast forward to a few years ago, and you had more GUI setup dialogs that were easier to find for the uninitiated. But some things like getting the proprietary ATI driver to run were still a pain in the ass.
Only in the last few years Linux has reached Windows-like simplicity and in some cases pulled ahead:
Most hardware is recognized out of the box, and Ubuntu will install even proprietary drivers over the net (which some of the more GPL-purist distros refuse). Others have reported on Slashdot that they found Linux driver support better than in Vista, but I guess XP is still unbeatable.
2) Get software and install it.
Here I don't see much of a difference. .deb or .rpm file, then install. If the packet is in the repository, Linux scores some bonus points for convenience but that's all. .deb or .rpm file the equivalent of the setup.exe BTW. Compiling from source is not always easy in windows either - I have seen software that requires several installation and compilation steps in a very specific order ;-)
Windows: Get the setup.exe and double-click it
Linux: Select packet in packet manager, OR get a
I consider the
C - the footgun of programming languages
They way I'm reading it, the windows version is $50 cheaper with an 80gig SDD compared to the linux model with a 40gig... I've seen this on several sites... justeeepcs.com being the easiest url to remember... Think Redmond got to them... As a geek, I'd buy the XP and put linux on it for the price-tag and bigger SDD... Or say to hell with asus for bowing down and buy a cloudbook...
Ha ha ha ha! ...
Ha ha ha ha!
(deep breath)
Ha ha ha ha!
obviously somebody can't like or buy ANYTHING big/fast/cool these days without it being to make up for "inadequacies".
You ain't kidding. When I was 19 I bought an '80 Camaro. Black, fast and absolutely beautiful. The first time I took it to work, one of my female coworkers took one look and said "You poor thing. Is it *really* that small?" Not the reaction I had been hoping for...
Any plan which depends on a fundamental change in human behavior is doomed from the start.
It appears technical people prefer Windows.
Are you, by chance, a housewife?
People have died from using it! (That's my favorite part...died I tell you!!!)
If anyone needs me, I'll be in the Angry Dome.
So what's the new exclusive uber-geek operating system?
If geeks are going to buy an operating system, it's not going to be the one whose official sites offer about a thousand mirrors and torrents.
I would purchase the one with XP merely to have the XP license. Of course it will get formatted and installed with Linux, but at that point I will be able to choose to legally reinstall XP at some point in the future without having to pay more.
The linux distro that comes with the EE runs like ass. It's like a preschoolers fake laptop toy.
Personally, I'll be installing my own distro though. I can't imagine XP running well on the EE
I run Linux at home on all the general purpose computers and my non-tech wife loves it. She finds Windows and OSX confusing and difficult, but the Gnome desktop on Ubuntu is great, once the colour scheme is seen to of course.
She even recommends it to others, but the way she recommends it doesn't sound like a typical geek recommendation. It's all about how easy it is to use and how easy it is to find what you're looking for. Her recommendation even got my mum wanting to try it out and now my mum is hooked, commenting on how clean and simple the desktop is and how applications are grouped in the menu based on function rather than company. Mum teaches English to overseas students and is now recommending OpenOffice and Linux to students who are having trouble affording MS stuff.
Trouble is, with Linux getting so friendly and easy for the unwashed masses, we geeks who love it when nothing quite works are getting limited for choice - there used to be a whole raft of distros that were impossible to get working nicely, now there is only Gentoo. There is XP, as TA suggests, but that has the unfortunate legacy of being patched and maintained for so long and being a mainstream commercial OS, so it really does work too well and is actually pretty easy to keep secure. I'm advocating that geeks switch to Haiku or GNU/HURD. That way we can spend weeks getting a native OS just to boot and not be tainted with the use of a OS for the masses.
I don't therefore I'm not.
I've just read that "Guide", and I'm so, so, so pleased, I'm not you.
This is NOT a signature.
A typical housewife (if one exists) would be interested in checking email, horoscopes, chat with friend and family, and surfing the internets. They would just need a running and working internet connection. If there's not internet, the computer means nothing to them anyway.
Geeks on the other hand might be compelled to use Win XP by their corporate overlords.
Can't see Hindi?
This story should have that little foot icon in the summary. It would be nice.
So they buy cheap
http://eeepc.asus.com/global/news04152008.htm Providing Suitable Environments for Different Needs
To suit differing user requirements, the Eee PC 900 comes in both Microsoft Windows and Linux versions.
The Microsoft Windows version offers more experienced users an enhanced and innovative experience that incorporates Windows Live features like Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live Mail for consolidated email accounts on the user's desktop. Complementing this is Microsoft Works, which equips the user with numerous office applications to work efficiently.
The Linux version is useful for users who desire task-based icons and an easy point-and-click interface. Well suited for children or users without any computer experience, it provides a fast boot-up timeâ" ideal for fast Internet access while waiting for public transport, or taking notes on-the-go.
I put Ubuntu on the desktop over a year ago and my cake-baking, toddler-rearing house-wife only ever boots into that and uses OO.o, evolution and firefox (ad/script blocker) with ease. She knows how to boot it into XP, but I don't think she ever has since - though I've never gotten the printer to work in XP which is pleasantly ironic. It seems it's only me that finds it neccesary to run teh evil win, for some unknown self-harm related reasons probably.
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
What, other than convenience, are we talking about here? Just having the searchable collection of programs is a pretty big step forward, IMHO. It reduces the "Find a program to do this thing" process to one step in a large number of cases, where Windows (Or even OSX) always requires "Find a program externally. Download the program. Install the program." as separate steps.
Also, as a side note, I think having a dedicated package format has advantages over having an install file that's just a specially named (OR NOT, as the case may easily be: Convention isn't always honored) executable file.
You are utterly right that the ease of use we're seeing today is leaps and bounds ahead of where we were just 10 years ago. As recently as 7, I found myself unable to get a printer to function without some serious fiddling. And let's not talk about X11 and the brittleness of its configuration file, shall we not?
There is the question "is this too difficult for a not-so-skilled user?".
Downloading a setup program and running it seems well within the abilities of non-techies, while compiling the program from source might be too much for many of them. So we have a big threshold between being to use the program at all and failing in the setup process.
Giving the user a more comfortable way to do it is nice, but not the sort of difference that "can you use the system at all?" makes.
C - the footgun of programming languages
Not in Japan.
The only way you can get the Linux version is to buy the MSWxp version. Then you install Linux yourself. Do you download Asus's version? No, of course not.
(Can you think of a reason geeks are buying the MSWxp version in Japan?)
Computer memory is just fancy paper, CPUs just fancy pens with fancy erasers; the 'net is just a fancy backyard fence.
Linux for housewives? Oh my God! Gates will cry...
But the far east has always been a backwards culture.
Read more of the journals and you'll be even more pleased you're not me!
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
my wife loves her treo, and second life, she is a total geek, but she would be totally shocked to learn that here beloved treo has an operating system. She will also tell you that second life on linux is not for her because the sound doesn't work, she knows that other people still use IE instead of Firefox
in short it is the app that matters and the passion that makes the geek
WTF is it on this site with pretending women are computer illiterates? Why is every insult to non-geeks in gendered form, e.g. "girlfriends," "housewives."
Only thing gendered about an eee 701 is that narrower fingers work better on it.
Linux isn't 'poorly supported', it's 'low powered and suitable for a beginner'. That's the sort of marketing Linux needs to break into the masses.
Houewifes are far more pragmatic