My comment was made based on my admittedly limited experience, but I am far from a Windows lover. In fact, in one failed attempt to get away from Windows, I literally reinstalled OS/2 7 times and worked 24/7 on it for about 2 weeks before I gave up on it (there were issues with a new Dell BIOS at the time). A couple years later I tried to install Linux several times over the course of a week before I figured out that it didn't support my video card and I would never be able to use X Windows (this was pre-KDE/Gnome). I've been meaning to try it again for a long time, but I know that it's going to require me to spend a minimum of a weekend to get it configured the way I want it. I've gotten my mom and dad savvy enough to use an iMac and Windows respectively, but unless Linux has come much further than I think, I can't imagine either of them using it without a lot of help. For the things they use it for (e-mail, web, word, icq), I think the time it would take to teach them Linux wouldn't be worth the benefit.
If I'm wrong, and other people have had good experiences getting non-technical co-workers/parents/grandparents up and running on Linux, maybe I'll give it a try.
Microsoft software doesn't sell because PCs are expensive. The price of the OS has nothing to do with the price of the PC. The value of the OS is based on how well it allows people to do the work/play they want to do.
One of the main reasons why Windows is popular no matter how much the PC costs is that it's much easier for non-technical users to maintain. I would guess that if you plop down a Linux desktop and a Windows desktop in front of the average accountant, teacher or small business owner who has never seen a command line, it would take them at least a week to learn to use Linux effectively. Assuming that these people's time is worth $20-$200 an hour, the price of Windows becomes negligible pretty quickly. This has been said a million times before, but until Linux gets close to Windows in usability, Windows will sell no matter how much the PC costs.
There are other reasons why Windows sells (application availability, familiarity with the interface, etc.), which makes the cost of Windows even more negligible. People don't choose Linux because it's cheap. If you take the amount of time it takes to learn and maintain Linux, Linux is actually more expensive for most people. For a lot of people, the power and flexibility of Linux are worth the amount of time spent. But a lot of people don't need that power and aren't willing to spend the time to get it.
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My comment was made based on my admittedly limited experience, but I am far from a Windows lover. In fact, in one failed attempt to get away from Windows, I literally reinstalled OS/2 7 times and worked 24/7 on it for about 2 weeks before I gave up on it (there were issues with a new Dell BIOS at the time). A couple years later I tried to install Linux several times over the course of a week before I figured out that it didn't support my video card and I would never be able to use X Windows (this was pre-KDE/Gnome). I've been meaning to try it again for a long time, but I know that it's going to require me to spend a minimum of a weekend to get it configured the way I want it. I've gotten my mom and dad savvy enough to use an iMac and Windows respectively, but unless Linux has come much further than I think, I can't imagine either of them using it without a lot of help. For the things they use it for (e-mail, web, word, icq), I think the time it would take to teach them Linux wouldn't be worth the benefit.
If I'm wrong, and other people have had good experiences getting non-technical co-workers/parents/grandparents up and running on Linux, maybe I'll give it a try.
Microsoft software doesn't sell because PCs are expensive. The price of the OS has nothing to do with the price of the PC. The value of the OS is based on how well it allows people to do the work/play they want to do.
One of the main reasons why Windows is popular no matter how much the PC costs is that it's much easier for non-technical users to maintain. I would guess that if you plop down a Linux desktop and a Windows desktop in front of the average accountant, teacher or small business owner who has never seen a command line, it would take them at least a week to learn to use Linux effectively. Assuming that these people's time is worth $20-$200 an hour, the price of Windows becomes negligible pretty quickly. This has been said a million times before, but until Linux gets close to Windows in usability, Windows will sell no matter how much the PC costs.
There are other reasons why Windows sells (application availability, familiarity with the interface, etc.), which makes the cost of Windows even more negligible. People don't choose Linux because it's cheap. If you take the amount of time it takes to learn and maintain Linux, Linux is actually more expensive for most people. For a lot of people, the power and flexibility of Linux are worth the amount of time spent. But a lot of people don't need that power and aren't willing to spend the time to get it.