Well...I just spent 2 unsuccessful hours trying to get a new monitor to work under Fedora. It took a matter of minutes with XP. Sure, I've Googled the problem, and I probably am on the road to getting it working...but not yet (I've had enough for one day). It's a monitor! It should be the easiest thing in the world to install!!!
Honestly, live CD's are neat, various distributions are fine, but Linux has to get a helluva lot easier to use. Developers need to stop saying "Well golly gee it's easy for me, it should be for you" and start focusing on what is actually easy for someone that is unfamiliar. Endless editing of configuration files is not going to win over users.
My current monitor install is only my most recent issue. But "issues" seem to come up all too frequently. Usually I fight it out until things are working...but this is an unpleasant process when I have to sit there knowing I could resolve the same problem under Window in minutes. Sure, it comes down to familiarity with the system, but even after using Linux for several years I still find it to be a royal pain in the ass whenever I have to do something new or change anything...Sure, the answers are out there, but it usually requires consulting multiple books, lots of googling, hoping that someone else has had the same problem as me, and LOTS of time spent. I have no problem learning new things, but I (and many other people) don't have time for this much screwing around. Honestly, I think anyone that considers that to be an acceptable state of "ease of use" for the hypothetical "someone" thats never used linux...is out of their mind. When thing work...they work great, but sometimes it just seems like the amount of effort required to GET things working is unacceptable.
I'm frustrated right now, and maybe this was a bit of a rant...but I think more thought needs to be given to what the knowledge/patience/experience level of the majority of computer users actually is, rather than projecting the "knowledge/patience/experience level" of your average linux user onto them.
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Put it on a few billion USB sticks and hand it out to everyone in the world...It doesn't do any good if its still a pain to use.
Well...I just spent 2 unsuccessful hours trying to get a new monitor to work under Fedora. It took a matter of minutes with XP. Sure, I've Googled the problem, and I probably am on the road to getting it working...but not yet (I've had enough for one day). It's a monitor! It should be the easiest thing in the world to install!!! Honestly, live CD's are neat, various distributions are fine, but Linux has to get a helluva lot easier to use. Developers need to stop saying "Well golly gee it's easy for me, it should be for you" and start focusing on what is actually easy for someone that is unfamiliar. Endless editing of configuration files is not going to win over users. My current monitor install is only my most recent issue. But "issues" seem to come up all too frequently. Usually I fight it out until things are working...but this is an unpleasant process when I have to sit there knowing I could resolve the same problem under Window in minutes. Sure, it comes down to familiarity with the system, but even after using Linux for several years I still find it to be a royal pain in the ass whenever I have to do something new or change anything...Sure, the answers are out there, but it usually requires consulting multiple books, lots of googling, hoping that someone else has had the same problem as me, and LOTS of time spent. I have no problem learning new things, but I (and many other people) don't have time for this much screwing around. Honestly, I think anyone that considers that to be an acceptable state of "ease of use" for the hypothetical "someone" thats never used linux...is out of their mind. When thing work...they work great, but sometimes it just seems like the amount of effort required to GET things working is unacceptable. I'm frustrated right now, and maybe this was a bit of a rant...but I think more thought needs to be given to what the knowledge/patience/experience level of the majority of computer users actually is, rather than projecting the "knowledge/patience/experience level" of your average linux user onto them.