Linux is rapidly becoming THE force in servers and high-end machines, but it has gained very little ground in the desktop machine's territory. Corel's distribution was great for improving the desktop usability of this OS, but perhaps it is still too complex for the average user. I have found people flounder when presented with anything other than Windows. They don't understand the concept of multiple desktops unless you explain it for five minutes, and they can't comprehend the close button being anywhere other than where MS puts it. Is Linux's customizability, especially in the GUI arena, a detriment for the average PC user, or is this just a hurdle people will eventually understand?
Year Versioning is absolute genius marketing. If we associate a certain year with a software product, it is easier for us to think of it as old within a year. For example, think of a hypothetical software program released in 96 called BlahBlah Version 5.3. Now think of the same program as BlahBlah 96. 96 is ancient by today's standards. If BlahBlah 5.8 comes out, we're less likely to spend our jack for the upgrade than if it's BlahBlah 99. Thus, hearing "96" causes us to say "damn, that's old", but 5.3 is very much "mmmm, okay". If we think of software as old, it's easier for us to think that we need to upgrade. I have no reason to move my Winblows partition from 95 to 98 or 98 millenium or whatever (partially because I don't use it at all) because I don't need the functionality. But looking just at the name "95" vs. "98", I desperately need this new upgrade.
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Linux is rapidly becoming THE force in servers and high-end machines, but it has gained very little ground in the desktop machine's territory. Corel's distribution was great for improving the desktop usability of this OS, but perhaps it is still too complex for the average user. I have found people flounder when presented with anything other than Windows. They don't understand the concept of multiple desktops unless you explain it for five minutes, and they can't comprehend the close button being anywhere other than where MS puts it. Is Linux's customizability, especially in the GUI arena, a detriment for the average PC user, or is this just a hurdle people will eventually understand?
Year Versioning is absolute genius marketing. If we associate a certain year with a software product, it is easier for us to think of it as old within a year. For example, think of a hypothetical software program released in 96 called BlahBlah Version 5.3. Now think of the same program as BlahBlah 96. 96 is ancient by today's standards. If BlahBlah 5.8 comes out, we're less likely to spend our jack for the upgrade than if it's BlahBlah 99. Thus, hearing "96" causes us to say "damn, that's old", but 5.3 is very much "mmmm, okay". If we think of software as old, it's easier for us to think that we need to upgrade. I have no reason to move my Winblows partition from 95 to 98 or 98 millenium or whatever (partially because I don't use it at all) because I don't need the functionality. But looking just at the name "95" vs. "98", I desperately need this new upgrade.