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City of Munich Struggling With Basic Linux Functionality
jones_supa writes: Just like the city planned a year ago, Munich is still calling for a switch back to Windows from LiMux, their Ubuntu derivative. The councilors from Munich's conservative CSU party have called the operating system installed on their laptops "cumbersome to use" and "of very limited use." The letter from the two senior members of the city's IT committee (PDF in German) asks the mayor to consider removing the Linux-based OS and to install Windows and Office. "There are no programs for text editing, Skype, Office etc. installed and that prevents normal use," the letter argues. Another complaint from councilors is that "the lack of user permissions makes them of limited use." These kind of arguments raise eyebrows, as all that functionality is certainly found on Linux.
This is computer neophytes telling IT how things work.
Like the pigs running the farm. Like the inmates running the asylum.
Like councillors up to their ears in that Microsoft bribe money.
...Steve
that they simply have to learn a new trick. Switching back to Windows because some old geezer can't find the right icon is ridiculous.
Throwing Linux on the PCs and letting users figure it out isn't a proven strategy.
The councilors from Munich's conservative CSU party have called the operating system installed on their laptops "cumbersome to use" and "of very limited use.
Translation: We don't want to be bothered learning anything new and it doesn't have solitaire on it.
"There are no programs for text editing, Skype, Office etc. installed and that prevents normal use,"
Translation: We have no idea what we are talking about, can't be bothered to ask any questions and only want to use what we are already familiar with.
Another complaint from councilors is that "the lack of user permissions makes them of limited use."
Translation: We want to be able to download whatever malware infested screensaver or porn we feel like.
Normal people don't know what applications are or how to install them. They click blindly, like newborn infants, until Microsoft Word appears, and then they express whatever it is in them that drove them to this extreme. Outlook is a gateway into a magical world of 576,442 unread emails and 500,333 unsent drafts. The "fix it" button on the front of the machine usually works, but sometimes doesn't. Their grandson tells them to stop hitting that button, but he's into voodoo and something called Mimecraft, so what does he know?
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As TFS states, all that stuff should be readily available in Linux/Ubuntu. If users complain about the lack of a text editor in all likelihood the training program for transitioning Windows users is mediocre (and the users themselves are stuck in their ways and won't adapt easily). If the systems are being issued to users with no day-to-day office functionality, that's a problem with their IT department dropping the ball setup-wise. That's not a failure of the operating system itself.
The people of Munich are obviously wrong, and need to be replaced.
While I understand that it's very easy to go "But all that functionality is there! Clearly these people are just too stupid!", but the reality is that Linux advocates are not known for being "newb" friendly (read: old people that barely know how to use computers as it is) and explaining things well to these "newbs".
While I'm in the software field, I find that a majority of people in software and IT get very impatient with people who aren't "up to their skill level" and are very haughty about it. They especially don't sit down and take the time to bring it waaaaay down to the users level and explain it well enough to make sure they "get it" (as well as they possibly can).
So put down the pitchforks and torches and take a look at yourselves. The problem is more than likely in lack of training and education of and patience with the users, not in the system itself. So don't blame the users when they don't understand the system.
(As a sidenote, there's a reason the joke exists that the best way to get an answer to a question about doing X in linux is to insult linux and talk about how windows is superior because it can do X easily.)
I know it is ubiquitous in journalism to abbreviate e.g. "two senior members of the city's IT committee" to "Munich", but it is not correct, and the imprecision of such phrases can wildly skew the impression that a reader gets versus the facts.
Examine the headline: "City of Munich Struggling With Basic Linux Functionality". Without any sort of clarifying modifier to "City of Munich", one is liable to take this to mean a significant portion of the populace (millions of people), when in fact the subject aforementioned is really a small group of sabre-rattlers.
By all metrics, LiMux has gone extraordinary well for Munich. The complainers are a bunch of politicians being paid off by Microsoft; note how there's no actual bureaucrats expressing dissatisfaction with it.
because hitting the windows key and typing out what you want to do is just so cumbersome.. Shit, I went back to Win 8 after running the mess that is Windows 10 for months.. I thought that by RTM they'ed have it nailed down.. nope.. seriously fucked up Surface Pro 3 tablet functionality and battery life...
Unter anderem können keinerlei Programme
(Textbearbeitungsprogramme, Skype, Office, etc.) selbst nach installiert werden, welches
einen normalen Gebrauch verhindert
no text processing? no skype? wtf? LiMux must be the worst distro ever.
or it could be that this is the worst fud ever.
because hitting the windows key and typing out what you want to do is just so cumbersome.
Hint: there's a reason it's called a GRAPHICAL User Interface. If I wanted to have to type commands, I'd use a real shell.
Microsoft added that crap when Search was the New Shiny, and everything had to have Search to compete with Google.
Then they added a tablet interface when the iPad was the New Shiny, and everything had to support touchscreens to compete with Apple.
Maybe they should just try building a good desktop OS with a GRAPHICAL User Interface.
This is originating from Microsoft shills or inept IT admins. Either way, It's bullshit.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
They didn't.
This is users complaining about change, not about poorly planned / executed change.
You always get these types, regardless of the type of change ( upgrade, change of vendors etc.), because they don't care about business objectives or anyone /anything besides "what they are used to", regardless of the effort that was put in to prepare them for the change.