Well, problems described here, do really exist. It's sad, but some of the problems are quite natural, for big communities.
The thing I would like to understand is how that number became 10 times bigger just in one year? Being wikipedian with few thousands of edits, in past 3 years, I can't see such a dramatic change in the past year.
Did researchers took into account, the "unified global account", introduces in mid-2008? Otherwise, they could conclude, that users who started using one global account instead of few accounts on different wikipedias, to be "inactive" while actually they were just using new, global account. Let's say one was editing on 3 different wikipedias with 3 different logins, one for each language. Then he have unified his logins, and get one global account. There are chances that if this was not taken in account, they will got 2 "new inactive users", which will not be true.
Any link to original research, and details on techniques they used to get such numbers?
Agree, that's what personally I do, at home, and at all places where I have right to make such a decision.
BUT, I'm a techie with good enough English, to read man's, tutorials, discussion, etc..
And if an average users, without good enough English (German/French/Spanish any language you can find enough resources and docs) would try to put Linux, he/she will have enough of hard time even on smth as user-friendly as Ubuntu, as soon as a small problem rises on the way. In case of windows/popular proprietary soft, there are enough books or just friends/ppl to ask for help.
for point B, there's a big problem: situation with IP and relation to it in USSR was _very_ different from one in US/Europe. And for lot of ppl, especially grown up in soviet era, it's not smth real bad to copy a program/song/movie/whatever. For another part it's still hard to understand what's bad in copying something for personal/noncomercial use. You can often hear things like "If I will not give my 3 months salary to world's richest company, will they loose smth? I don't stole anything from anyone, right? I just make a copy, and put it back.". Things started to change of course, but situation/mentality is still very different.
From the other side, here in Armenia, just 1.5 years ago If I'd like to get non-pirated soft/audio album/movie the only way was buying through Internet, which has number of it's own difficulties. It's just 1.5 years we have MS Armenia. The only way you could get a genuine preinstalled windows on your PC, was to buy a brand-name pc/laptop. I can find only local audio or movies non-pirated, I don't think you can find a licensed CD of let's say even Britney Spears, or anything popular/widespread like that, not speaking of situation when one wants something rare/not so popular. So piracy is forbidden by law, but in reality it's the only accessible way for 95% of population to get smth. And we are not talking about very different average salaries in post soviet countries and western countries.
for point C, I again agree with you, for most cases.
But let's say do we have smth comparable to Adobe Premier? There are number of free non-linear video editing apps, but they still have a long way, to let's say becoming what GIMP is compared to Photoshop. Well that's a technical question.
Well by pushing I meant more "promoting". For lot of ppl to see linux on a PC, you have to install it at public places, internet cafes, universities and schools not just use at home. Last 2 already got a good deal from MS, so it will be even harder to make them try Linux.
That's what lot of FOSS enthusiasts do (me too), one downloads image and the makes copies for friends, those who asked. I even seen some list/db of available downloaded CD's (like Ivan has FC & Ubuntu, Vladimir has Debian and Gentoo, email them, and ask for a copy, then meet somewhere) on several Russian/Ukrainian LUGs. But price is still the same (you can also copy disk with proprietary soft, and that's what is done:) ). And for regular ppl/managers/decision makers price is the main argument to switch or not to switch to FOSS. Plus take in account that absolute majority of ppl knows Windows systems, but very few know other. It's right for both general users, and technical staff.
As one who tries to promote FOSS in exUSSR country (Armenia) I can write number of articles on this, but guess this is not the best place for going in details.:)
Yep, it should be hard to believe for lot of ppl here, but for a lot of places (excluding only multimillion cities) in ex Soviet countries, this is the case.
There is no broadband unlimited internet tariffs. 1 Mb of download, can cost up to 0.10$. Downloading will take couple of days.iso of a CD, and more then a week for DVD image.
And a CD/DVD with Vista/Full Adobe Creative Suite/Full MS Office pro/3D Max/whatever will cost about 4-5$ at any CD/DVD shop, which can be found on every single step.
Now tell me, which options whould you prefer?
Downloading an iso of CD for 50-60$ during a week, + another 20-30$ for additional packages, drivers, codecs, whatever..
Or buying let's say 2 DVD's for 10$ in 10 minutes, one with "All windows + office" (Several versions of windows + several versions of office, + antiviruses, system utilites, daily soft), and second "All computer graphics" with (All Adobe applciations for graphics, video, web-design, +3d max, maya, corel draw, image viewers, video players, etc..). So which one?:)
That is the main reason why it's so hard to push open source in here.
P.S. It's hard to find a fresh Linux distro in CD shops, and even if you can find not 2 years old, the price is the same.
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Well, problems described here, do really exist. It's sad, but some of the problems are quite natural, for big communities. The thing I would like to understand is how that number became 10 times bigger just in one year? Being wikipedian with few thousands of edits, in past 3 years, I can't see such a dramatic change in the past year. Did researchers took into account, the "unified global account", introduces in mid-2008? Otherwise, they could conclude, that users who started using one global account instead of few accounts on different wikipedias, to be "inactive" while actually they were just using new, global account. Let's say one was editing on 3 different wikipedias with 3 different logins, one for each language. Then he have unified his logins, and get one global account. There are chances that if this was not taken in account, they will got 2 "new inactive users", which will not be true. Any link to original research, and details on techniques they used to get such numbers?
Agree, that's what personally I do, at home, and at all places where I have right to make such a decision.
BUT, I'm a techie with good enough English, to read man's, tutorials, discussion, etc..
And if an average users, without good enough English (German/French/Spanish any language you can find enough resources and docs) would try to put Linux, he/she will have enough of hard time even on smth as user-friendly as Ubuntu, as soon as a small problem rises on the way. In case of windows/popular proprietary soft, there are enough books or just friends/ppl to ask for help.
for point B, there's a big problem: situation with IP and relation to it in USSR was _very_ different from one in US/Europe. And for lot of ppl, especially grown up in soviet era, it's not smth real bad to copy a program/song/movie/whatever. For another part it's still hard to understand what's bad in copying something for personal/noncomercial use. You can often hear things like "If I will not give my 3 months salary to world's richest company, will they loose smth? I don't stole anything from anyone, right? I just make a copy, and put it back.". Things started to change of course, but situation/mentality is still very different. From the other side, here in Armenia, just 1.5 years ago If I'd like to get non-pirated soft/audio album/movie the only way was buying through Internet, which has number of it's own difficulties. It's just 1.5 years we have MS Armenia. The only way you could get a genuine preinstalled windows on your PC, was to buy a brand-name pc/laptop. I can find only local audio or movies non-pirated, I don't think you can find a licensed CD of let's say even Britney Spears, or anything popular/widespread like that, not speaking of situation when one wants something rare/not so popular. So piracy is forbidden by law, but in reality it's the only accessible way for 95% of population to get smth. And we are not talking about very different average salaries in post soviet countries and western countries.
for point C, I again agree with you, for most cases. But let's say do we have smth comparable to Adobe Premier? There are number of free non-linear video editing apps, but they still have a long way, to let's say becoming what GIMP is compared to Photoshop. Well that's a technical question.
Well by pushing I meant more "promoting". For lot of ppl to see linux on a PC, you have to install it at public places, internet cafes, universities and schools not just use at home. Last 2 already got a good deal from MS, so it will be even harder to make them try Linux.
That's what lot of FOSS enthusiasts do (me too), one downloads image and the makes copies for friends, those who asked. I even seen some list/db of available downloaded CD's (like Ivan has FC & Ubuntu, Vladimir has Debian and Gentoo, email them, and ask for a copy, then meet somewhere) on several Russian/Ukrainian LUGs. But price is still the same (you can also copy disk with proprietary soft, and that's what is done :) ). And for regular ppl/managers/decision makers price is the main argument to switch or not to switch to FOSS. Plus take in account that absolute majority of ppl knows Windows systems, but very few know other. It's right for both general users, and technical staff.
As one who tries to promote FOSS in exUSSR country (Armenia) I can write number of articles on this, but guess this is not the best place for going in details. :)
Yep, it should be hard to believe for lot of ppl here, but for a lot of places (excluding only multimillion cities) in ex Soviet countries, this is the case. There is no broadband unlimited internet tariffs. 1 Mb of download, can cost up to 0.10$. Downloading will take couple of days .iso of a CD, and more then a week for DVD image.
And a CD/DVD with Vista/Full Adobe Creative Suite/Full MS Office pro/3D Max/whatever will cost about 4-5$ at any CD/DVD shop, which can be found on every single step.
Now tell me, which options whould you prefer?
Downloading an iso of CD for 50-60$ during a week, + another 20-30$ for additional packages, drivers, codecs, whatever..
Or buying let's say 2 DVD's for 10$ in 10 minutes, one with "All windows + office" (Several versions of windows + several versions of office, + antiviruses, system utilites, daily soft), and second "All computer graphics" with (All Adobe applciations for graphics, video, web-design, +3d max, maya, corel draw, image viewers, video players, etc..). So which one? :)
That is the main reason why it's so hard to push open source in here.
P.S. It's hard to find a fresh Linux distro in CD shops, and even if you can find not 2 years old, the price is the same.