Is It Windows 7, Or KDE 4?

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Posted by timothy on Friday February 6, 2009 @01:20AM from the spy-vs.-spy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Is it Windows 7 or KDE 4? In this video, ZDNet takes to Sydney's streets to find out what people think of what they think is a Windows 7 demonstration. The results are surprising." Or maybe they're not surprising at all.

38 of 559 comments (clear)

not surprising by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-06 01:29 · Score: 5, Funny

9/10 people polled also couldn't tell the difference between rabbit shit and deer shit.
1. Re:not surprising by Chrisq · 2009-02-06 01:35 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  9/10 people polled also couldn't tell the difference between rabbit shit and deer shit.
  And nine out of ten couldn't tell the difference between your statistics and bullshit.
  
  That said it is a useful comparison.
  
  Someone who is just walking in the woods probably cannot tell rabbit shit from deer shit. A tracker or someone dependent on hunting for food certainly will.
  
  Someone who just needs to run a browser and word processor probably can't tell Windows 7 from KDE. Someone who needs to configure and administrate systems for an organisation certainly will.
2. Re:not surprising by SolitaryMan · 2009-02-06 01:57 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  Someone who just needs to run a browser and word processor probably can't tell Windows 7 from KDE. Someone who needs to configure and administrate systems for an organisation certainly will.
  True.
  I actually had a long argument with my SO about Linux vs. Windows issue. My main point was this: whenever she experiences any trouble she still complains to me, and for me it is much easier to deal with Linux. So she gave it a try and it all went OK to her own surprise, she had no troubles using FF, Gimp and Pidgin.
  
  --
  May Peace Prevail On Earth
3. Re:not surprising by Tiber · 2009-02-06 02:13 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I have the opposite problem. My wife won't touch linux but still wants to use my PC.
  Then she gripes that it doesn't "automatically log in" or gives me the "we should share passwords".
  I say to her, "Do you know shit about Linux?" "no" "THEN YOU DON'T NEED MY PASSWORD FOR SHIT".
4. Re:not surprising by gsaraber · 2009-02-06 02:24 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Dude she just wants your password to check your email and make sure you don't have anyone on the side :)
5. Re:not surprising by Bill_the_Engineer · 2009-02-06 02:24 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I say to her, "Do you know shit about Linux?" "no" "THEN YOU DON'T NEED MY PASSWORD FOR SHIT".
  Careful, sledgehammers need no passwords.
  
  --
  These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
6. Re:not surprising by Tiber · 2009-02-06 02:39 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Nah, the dead can't talk.
  You know anything about putting my honda back together?
7. Re:not surprising by Creepy · 2009-02-06 03:08 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  And nine out of ten couldn't tell the difference between your statistics and bullshit.
  that's because 9 out of 10 statistics are made up 73% of the time.
8. Re:not surprising by Hatta · 2009-02-06 03:19 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  This is why I have no problem with my GF running windows. If it breaks, I don't know what to do with it anyway, so it's not my problem.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
9. Re:not surprising by Darundal · 2009-02-06 03:36 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Until she figures out what happens when you put a period at the start of a files name.
10. Re:not surprising by Tanktalus · 2009-02-06 03:54 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  My wife does digital scrapbooking. She was using a cheapo scrapbooking app, but started to find it too limiting. She started to insist on a purchase of Photoshop, which I resisted. So she got the free trial version, played with it for 30 days and loved it. I asked her to give gimp the same 30 days, and she did. We never did make that Photoshop purchase - she has managed to find gimp tutorials online and even a dead-tree book that has all sorts of hints, tips, and ideas for gimp. Now she does all her scrapbooking in gimp. Maybe I'll be able to sneak a switch over to Gentoo from XP on her box now. :-)
  She's no techie, she's artistic. (NOT AUtistic, ARtistic.) Took a bit to get over the learning curve to the point where she was productive, but it wasn't terribly worse than the learning curve for Photoshop.
11. Re:not surprising by ozmanjusri · 2009-02-06 04:03 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  the truth goes: "You'll never find my porn stash, hehehe, hehe, heh".
  Meh
  I linked my porn stash to a directory called .secret in my girlfriend's home dir.
  She thinks she's clever for having found it, and gets some great ideas from the porn. It's a win-win.
  
  --
  "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
12. Re:not surprising by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-06 04:19 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I consider myself fairly computer literate and I can't tell the difference between Windows Vista and Windows Vista.
13. Re:not surprising by MrHanky · 2009-02-06 04:56 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Or it would be, if you had a girlfriend.
14. Re:not surprising by dwarg · 2009-02-06 05:02 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Bucking for some informative karma I've tracked down some visual aids for our comparison:
  Windows 7
  KDE 4
  Your welcome.
15. Re:not surprising by H0p313ss · 2009-02-06 06:11 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Or it would be, if you had a girlfriend.
  #include <stdyourmom>
  
  --
  XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
16. Re:not surprising by muridae · 2009-02-06 06:29 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Right, but how many people go around saying "Oh, I never drive a BrandA cars, I've always driven BrandB cars. I wouldn't even know how to drive a BrandA. The buttons might be in the wrong place, or the shift lever might be at the rear passenger door. I just wouldn't know where anything was?" I've heard the strangest reasons for not switching to Linux. One was simply "The Start button looks too different." Yes, the start button was enough to scare them. Heaven forbid that they ever get in a car that had the gear shift on the wheel column instead of the floor.
  No, the reason tech people say non-computer people are clueless about computers is because the ones that stick out in our memory are so willfully clueless. They are the ones who would get in any car and find the buttons they need, but change the color of an icon on the computer and they are lost. The blender breaks and they buy what ever one is on sale, but when they need to check their email they "Only know how to use OutLook Express. What is this 'webmail thing' you are talking about?" And stereos, geez, Talk about moving the buttons around, every one I've ever owned had the volume dial in a different place. But the volume icon in KDE is right next to the clock, same as windows normally, and most of these 'clueless' users wouldn't want to find it. They would rather just complain that 'it doesn't look the way I remember it.' I don't know what it is about computers that induces this autistic-like behavior, but that's exactly what it looks like.
  I settled the issue with my parents. I told them that unless they could name an application they wanted to use that I could not get them under Linux, then the next time they wanted their computer fixed it was getting Linux installed. A nice windows-like theme and KDE, sure, I'd go ahead and do that for them, but I was not supporting windows. My mother actually asked me to pirate her a windows CD, just because she didn't want to 'learn a whole new computer'. I handed her my laptop and asked her what she thought, and she thought it was a "nice windows theme, but that wasn't linux. I've seen linux, that's where you type away in that little text box with no pictures."
  Now they run Kubuntu, and the only problem they've had is that the LTS version hasn't updated firefox in ages. Next time they ask about it, they get moved from LTS to stable, which frightens them. I can't wait till they ask again and get moved to bleeding edge nightly builds.
17. Re:not surprising by KrimZon · 2009-02-06 06:56 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mojave_Experiment#Reception
  "Participants weren't asked to work with peripheral devices (such as printers or scanners), nor were they asked about compatibility with older software or hardware.[4] Participants did not have an opportunity to try the software themselves[2], but were only demonstrated certain features by a salesman."
  So while calling it Mojave prevented the bad hype from geeks, they still showed it to people in a very limited capacity that didn't actually show any of the things that were being criticized. Mojave proved very little, and this video is sort of analogous to that.
  With as much certainty as the Mojave Experiment provided us with, this video demonstrates that Linux and KDE are indeed desktop ready and 100% compatible With windows. It's only when you tell users that it's not Windows that they start believing the M£ propaganda and claim that all of a sudden they can't run GTA4.
18. Re:not surprising by Aphoxema · 2009-02-06 09:27 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  References to Windows are one of the only times I see geeks proudly proclaiming their ignorance....It's just an OS by a company, not some insane enemy to be avoided at all cost =/
  Hence "itsatrap" on every article about Microsoft supposed altruism.
  They are the enemy, they declared it many, many times! The everyone-not-Windows crowd might not have a problem with Microsoft (and therefor Windows) If they didn't have so much history of UI/feature theft, assimilation of over a hundred of corporations, investing in corporations like SCO to assault the public image of Linux, claiming Open Source is dangerous and will destroy computing... Jesus, it's like a monkey throwing shit at you. You know the monkey's just doing what it does but you'll never in your right mind appreciate it.
  Actually, let me make a much more concise attempt at responding to your comment.
  
  References to Windows are one of the only times I see geeks proudly proclaiming their ignorance....It's just an OS by a company, not some insane enemy to be avoided at all cost =/
  THE FUCK IT AIN'T.
  
  --
  "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
I fell for it.... by hal2814 · 2009-02-06 01:30 · Score: 5, Funny

I'll admit I fell for it. But in my defense, they showed it to me in the morning and I was really tired that morning for some reason. It's like someone switched out my usual high quality Columbian coffee with Folgers or something that day.
It should be labeled under "fun", not "kde" by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-06 01:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

I mean; even the editors themselves state that there isn't any conclusion to be drawn here; "we've learned nothing" because there simply are too many factors to consider. People don't know Windows 7 or people don't know KDE. Or people don't really care at all. So; fun movie, move along.
Thats it just show the eye candy. by jellomizer · 2009-02-06 01:31 · Score: 5, Insightful

Any OS can look impressive when you find a demo that shows off all the eye candy to its full extent. You could have shown these people DWM configured nicely they would think it would be the next generation OS, UI. Vista got good visual reviews too. The problem is when you start working with it, things change. KDE and GNOME while have a rather niced polished UI, you still need to do things the Unix/Linux way. The same with windows no matter what you do to the UI it is still windows and need to work with it.
What I find really funny comparing Windows/Gnome/KDE with a Mac. The Mac actually has a lot less eye candy, yet perception has it as having more.

--
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
1. Re:Thats it just show the eye candy. by AvitarX · 2009-02-06 02:28 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  My favorite piece of eye candy was the "static" when opening the photo.
  When the hell is somebody going to fix that, and whos fault is it?
  X? WM? Graphics Driver?
  it's getting old.
  
  --
  Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Folgers... by Sabathius · 2009-02-06 01:31 · Score: 5, Funny

We've secretly replaced Your coffee with Fogers Crystals!
The two guys' bottom line is nearly correct by VolkerLanz · 2009-02-06 01:32 · Score: 5, Interesting

We did in fact not learn all that much from their little street intreviews. Apart from that people feel uncomfortable with Vista (what did that lady say -- "hard to get user-friendly with"?) we learnt that they seem to like the default looks of KDE 4. That's interesting, but not all that surprising.
Still a nice little laugh, that video.
1. Re:The two guys' bottom line is nearly correct by NightFears · 2009-02-06 02:00 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  I think their point is that neither can any conclusions be drawn from Microsoft's spoofed Windows 7 interviews. People are willing to accept anything from an authoritative label. But that is not news, either.
2. Re:The two guys' bottom line is nearly correct by Excelsior · 2009-02-06 02:23 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  I think I learned quite a bit. I learned that when you get people in front of a camera talking about your product, they don't really pay very much attention to what they are seeing. If you look like a representative of the company, most people are going to say kind things.
  Which to me, says an awful lot about the Mojave Experiment. It doesn't really matter what people say they think in that setting. It matters what they think when they install the OS on their own computer, and for Vista that hasn't been very good.
  It also makes me question the effectiveness of usability labs I've sat through in the process of developing software for corporations. It's a painful process, and now I wonder if it is very accurate at all.
Re:Is KDE4 actually usable yet? by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-06 01:41 · Score: 5, Informative

Yeah, 4.2 is far, far better than 4. I use it and love it!
Re:eye candy by Anonymous Coward · 2009-02-06 01:46 · Score: 5, Funny

You'll buy KDE4?!?!
I've got this pirate copy of KDE4.2... It's much cheaper than the original.
But no punchline... by markdavis · 2009-02-06 02:00 · Score: 5, Interesting

At the end, they should have said:
"Have you ever heard of Linux?"
"What have you heard?"
"What you say if I told you this was Linux and not MS-Windows?"
bait and switch and switch... by argent · 2009-02-06 02:00 · Score: 5, Informative

I started the video, and it stuttered, and started over... with an actual demonstration of Windows 7. I had to reload the page to get the KDE4 prank video.
Was that supposed to be some kind of Zen test?
Re:Is KDE4 actually usable yet? by the_womble · 2009-02-06 02:01 · Score: 5, Informative

I blame the distro. They should not have made KDE4 the default so early - they should have stuck with KDE 3 until at least 4.2.
AS far as I can remember KDE 4.0 was well know not to be really ready.
Re:eye candy by MrNaz · 2009-02-06 02:02 · Score: 5, Funny

That's a bug in your legal system. I heard you recently voted a new president who may submit a patch.
Then again, your system is so broken you may want to consider a ground up re-write.

--
I hate printers.
Re:eye candy by MrNaz · 2009-02-06 02:03 · Score: 5, Informative

Xfce is your friend.
I use Xubuntu. Plain, clear, simple and *fast*. 8.10 runs out of the box everything on my ThinkPad laptop including Bluetooth. Get it.

--
I hate printers.
Re:eye candy by JohnBailey · 2009-02-06 02:15 · Score: 5, Informative

Can I legally play a DVD on a Linux box in the US?
Yes.
Ask Dell. They now include a closed source DVD player app to cover this niggle. The rest of the world uses the free codecs and the libdvdcss library just fine.
Another Linux roadblock gone eh.. Soon people will have to come up with real arguments.

--
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.
Set her up on another VT... by mrclisdue · 2009-02-06 02:46 · Score: 5, Interesting

I set up my wife on my PC on another virtual terminal - (ctl-alt-F8), it automatically logs her in on boot-up, and whenever she needs "her" stuff, it's all there for her. With all her own passwords. Plus, my "stuff" remains untouched - so whether I'm downloading torrents, or in the middle of composing an email, wp, graphic, presentation...it's all still there when she's done (ctl-alt-F7, back to me)
Simple.
cheers,
Re:eye candy by tixxit · 2009-02-06 02:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

I didn't realize we were a bunch of robots looking purely to optimize our efficiency. I like wobbly windows. Why? Because it looks cool. It's the same reason I pay more for clothes and my car. Now, I would still like to mention that Ubuntu does not come with wobbly Windows on by default. That is a feature you have to enable, which, judging from your post, I guess you did.
Re:eye candy by Keyper7 · 2009-02-06 03:15 · Score: 5, Insightful

Mod parent up. Almost all attacks against eye candy are based on a false dicothomy between beauty and functionality. Wobbly windows are not useful? Well, probably neither is your wallpaper. Or the painting on your house. Or good-looking clothes. And as much as it may sound surprising, woobly windows do not get in my way, I like them and nowadays I feel unconfortable when I have to use another system that does not have them. Different people, different tastes.
Going all "eh, I prefer functionality" is like ignoring a incredibly hot girl because "since she's beautiful, she's probably dumb". One thing does not exclude the other, specially considering Compiz/KWin are remarkably fine-tunable.