Welcome to the world of higher education. Balancing these sorts of issues is what all of us full time work/school people have been doing for years. Yes, it's very possible, and very satisfying. Don't listen to the ones trying to convince you not to attend college, as most are just trying to justify their own lack of motivation. Your business may flourish, or it may deteriorate, but your education will never leave you. It will never lose value like a certification, and is very useful when dealing with businesses. As for myself, I work 50 hrs a week, and take a full load in graduate school working on a MS/MIS. Sure, it's very painful at first with a schedule that goes from 8am-10pm at night sometimes, but believe me, you get used to it after awhile. Go for it!
Any developer striving for a PM type job needs to read a basic SDLC book, because if you think that your superior programming skills and technical knowledge alone are going to make you a wonderful PM, think again. SDLC is a very extensive and time proven process, and indeed as has been said.. developers tend to lack perspective on certain levels, and work best when given specific guidelines and dates. PM's *should* know much more about the SD life cycle, but developers have a point also... Any good system's analyst needs to have basic programming skills. The argument can go either way. However, I would choose a system's analyst with no programming skills, over a developer with no SDLC experience any day. Just my 2 cents.
I'm not sure how you are making the demographic relationship between consumer's who buy OS-free pc's from Walmart, and consumer's who buy Lindows pre-loaded pc's from Walmart. I think you're assuming that they are indeed the same consumer, and that's just not realistic. Btw, I don't see any offer of OS-free pc's on their website, but didn't have time to search thoroughly. Even if they are selling OS-free pc's, the latest trend to sell MS or Lindows pre-loaded pc's could be construed as indicative of the lack of computer skills in their consumer base. Either way, an initial bad impression of Linux to the general public is indeed harmful.
Your trailing quote: "People who buy ultra-cheap no-name PCs know what they are doing - at least to the extent that they know that they will need to pirate Windows if they have to run Windows-programs."
You're providing a correlative example to support your initial opinion. The problem is that your example has nothing to do with the genesis of this discussion. Who cares if Walmart sells pc's with no OS? We're talking about specific PC's which ARE being sold with an OS. That OS in question being...Lindows. To better qualify my statement. You have no factual evidence to support that the users buying these "Lindows computers" are tech savvy. In fact, the marketing strategy would seem to suggest otherwise.
My original statement did not include a "better alternative" solution, simply the caveats inherent in Walmart's "Lindows" decision from a business perspective. However, attempting to compare a 7 year old operating system to one significantly newer is not really a fair comparison, don't you think?;)
You're basing this chimerical premise on a simply unproven supposition. There is no factual evidence to back up your claim. I could argue just as poignantly that most Walmart users perusing through the computer section are NOT tech savvy. They are simply average computer users looking for a good deal. Average computer users who's initial impressions of Linux will NOT be a good one and ultimately having a harmful effect on consumer confidence in the platform.
In fact, I think the only saving grace for this entire thing is the fact that the OS is being touted as "Lindows". Maybe the majority of joe's won't even know it's Linux...
The basic move to sell pre-loaded Lindows machines was a faulty business decision in the first place. Linux is simply not ready as a desktop solution for the "average joe". You're inserting an OS with meager support services into a market dominated by 90% MS software sales. We all know that Windows emulation is not evolved enough to provide the smooth operability which an average computer user will require. This will cause a whiplash effect on Walmart. They probably have already begun to experience the incipient repercussive effects manifested through numerous complaints and support calls which probably prompted the modification of their sales pitch. As excited as every linux supporter is to see the OS start to dissiminate into the desktop market, it's simply not ready. The worst thing that can happen is to spread an immature "desktop" OS and destroy consumer confidence. Yes, we need consumer confidence (that's Mister Average Joe's confidence) in order to boost desktop sales. Otherwise, the 90% dominated MS software market will continue. Ok, I've gotten off on a rant, so I'll stop now:) Feel free to flame.
Slashdot Mirror
Welcome to the world of higher education. Balancing these sorts of issues is what all of us full time work/school people have been doing for years. Yes, it's very possible, and very satisfying. Don't listen to the ones trying to convince you not to attend college, as most are just trying to justify their own lack of motivation. Your business may flourish, or it may deteriorate, but your education will never leave you. It will never lose value like a certification, and is very useful when dealing with businesses. As for myself, I work 50 hrs a week, and take a full load in graduate school working on a MS/MIS. Sure, it's very painful at first with a schedule that goes from 8am-10pm at night sometimes, but believe me, you get used to it after awhile. Go for it!
Any developer striving for a PM type job needs to read a basic SDLC book, because if you think that your superior programming skills and technical knowledge alone are going to make you a wonderful PM, think again. SDLC is a very extensive and time proven process, and indeed as has been said.. developers tend to lack perspective on certain levels, and work best when given specific guidelines and dates. PM's *should* know much more about the SD life cycle, but developers have a point also... Any good system's analyst needs to have basic programming skills. The argument can go either way. However, I would choose a system's analyst with no programming skills, over a developer with no SDLC experience any day. Just my 2 cents.
I'm not sure how you are making the demographic relationship between consumer's who buy OS-free pc's from Walmart, and consumer's who buy Lindows pre-loaded pc's from Walmart. I think you're assuming that they are indeed the same consumer, and that's just not realistic. Btw, I don't see any offer of OS-free pc's on their website, but didn't have time to search thoroughly. Even if they are selling OS-free pc's, the latest trend to sell MS or Lindows pre-loaded pc's could be construed as indicative of the lack of computer skills in their consumer base. Either way, an initial bad impression of Linux to the general public is indeed harmful.
Your trailing quote: "People who buy ultra-cheap no-name PCs know what they are doing - at least to the extent that they know that they will need to pirate Windows if they have to run Windows-programs." You're providing a correlative example to support your initial opinion. The problem is that your example has nothing to do with the genesis of this discussion. Who cares if Walmart sells pc's with no OS? We're talking about specific PC's which ARE being sold with an OS. That OS in question being...Lindows. To better qualify my statement. You have no factual evidence to support that the users buying these "Lindows computers" are tech savvy. In fact, the marketing strategy would seem to suggest otherwise.
My original statement did not include a "better alternative" solution, simply the caveats inherent in Walmart's "Lindows" decision from a business perspective. However, attempting to compare a 7 year old operating system to one significantly newer is not really a fair comparison, don't you think?;)
You're basing this chimerical premise on a simply unproven supposition. There is no factual evidence to back up your claim. I could argue just as poignantly that most Walmart users perusing through the computer section are NOT tech savvy. They are simply average computer users looking for a good deal. Average computer users who's initial impressions of Linux will NOT be a good one and ultimately having a harmful effect on consumer confidence in the platform.
In fact, I think the only saving grace for this entire thing is the fact that the OS is being touted as "Lindows". Maybe the majority of joe's won't even know it's Linux...
The basic move to sell pre-loaded Lindows machines was a faulty business decision in the first place. Linux is simply not ready as a desktop solution for the "average joe". You're inserting an OS with meager support services into a market dominated by 90% MS software sales. We all know that Windows emulation is not evolved enough to provide the smooth operability which an average computer user will require. This will cause a whiplash effect on Walmart. They probably have already begun to experience the incipient repercussive effects manifested through numerous complaints and support calls which probably prompted the modification of their sales pitch. As excited as every linux supporter is to see the OS start to dissiminate into the desktop market, it's simply not ready. The worst thing that can happen is to spread an immature "desktop" OS and destroy consumer confidence. Yes, we need consumer confidence (that's Mister Average Joe's confidence) in order to boost desktop sales. Otherwise, the 90% dominated MS software market will continue. Ok, I've gotten off on a rant, so I'll stop now:) Feel free to flame.