My experience is slightly different but comes from another perspective. I'm am not a student in a small town but run my own Unix/Linux consulting company in Johannesburg.
I will comment on the points you are making:
Availability - I found Linux to be rather easily available. The corner computer store near my house has a copy of Red hat 6.2, "Incredible Connection" sells Red Hat, and Corel. If you can't find a distribution at a local shop you can always go to http://linuxwarehouse.co.za and mail order. You won't have creditcard problems because they don't even accept them.
Attractiveness - Yes the CD you get from the ISP won't help you much. I found the tech support at MWEB/iafrica slightly cluesless. But after convincing them that talking you through the CD procedure won't help they are quite competent in giving you the information that you need to set up a connection with a non Microsoft OS.
The atractiveness really lies in what you want to do:
If you heard from you buddies that having a computer is cool to play games on you are a lost cause anyway.
If you want to do real work you tend to be more careful in your choices and Linux becomes really attractive when you find out that you Can Save up to R10 000 on Software and still do the same but only better.
Corporate acceptance - Convince them with money and reliability. It works for me.
Publicity - I suppose we read different magazines (not that I read too many). Linux was making quite a few headlines as a real alternative in at least one of the local weekly magazines.
Support - Guess what? On at least one distrubution I saw locally, free/discounted courses were offered by a local company. It is really not difficult finding Linux support in South Africa.
Support from your buddy that had his computer six months longer than you is maybe free (as in beer), but you will get what you pay for. If you are really serious about support you are going to pay for it whether it is for Linux or for Microsoft.
The real world in South Africa are very aware of Linux and many big companies do use it. Some prefer using commercial Unix offerings but that is normally determined by the hardware they bought or the specialized software they are running.
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Speaking as another South African.
My experience is slightly different but comes from another perspective. I'm am not a student in a small town but run my own Unix/Linux consulting company in Johannesburg.
I will comment on the points you are making:
Availability - I found Linux to be rather easily available. The corner computer store near my house has a copy of Red hat 6.2, "Incredible Connection" sells Red Hat, and Corel. If you can't find a distribution at a local shop you can always go to http://linuxwarehouse.co.za and mail order. You won't have creditcard problems because they don't even accept them.
Attractiveness - Yes the CD you get from the ISP won't help you much. I found the tech support at MWEB/iafrica slightly cluesless. But after convincing them that talking you through the CD procedure won't help they are quite competent in giving you the information that you need to set up a connection with a non Microsoft OS.
The atractiveness really lies in what you want to do:
If you heard from you buddies that having a computer is cool to play games on you are a lost cause anyway.
If you want to do real work you tend to be more careful in your choices and Linux becomes really attractive when you find out that you Can Save up to R10 000 on Software and still do the same but only better.
Corporate acceptance - Convince them with money and reliability. It works for me.
Publicity - I suppose we read different magazines (not that I read too many). Linux was making quite a few headlines as a real alternative in at least one of the local weekly magazines.
Support - Guess what? On at least one distrubution I saw locally, free/discounted courses were offered by a local company. It is really not difficult finding Linux support in South Africa.
Support from your buddy that had his computer six months longer than you is maybe free (as in beer), but you will get what you pay for. If you are really serious about support you are going to pay for it whether it is for Linux or for Microsoft.
The real world in South Africa are very aware of Linux and many big companies do use it. Some prefer using commercial Unix offerings but that is normally determined by the hardware they bought or the specialized software they are running.