I totally understand. Most people expect PC Techs to be masters of all things computers, and most likely to have dabbled in Linux. Honestly I find there are two kinds of techs.
1. You get a job as a tech and after you work with PCs for awhile at your job you begin to hate them. You sell your PC, and you generally avoid them at all costs. Your hobby turned in to a job, and therefore you give up on your hobby because working on computers is all you do all day at work and you need a freakin break!
2. You get a job as a tech and continue to mess around with computers at home. You expand your one PC setup to two, then three. Later you have your own web, FTP and file server. You install some flavor of Linux and you network your Windows and Linux PCs together. You get the idea from here.
I am the first one, and a lot of the people I work with fall in to this category as well. We use to geek out and be on the net and working on computers 24/7. Now we tend to avoid them whenever possible.
My interest in other OS is because I want to get into Networking and I believe a background in Linux/Unix would be helpful. And I really think Linux, open-source and all that stuff is the wave of he future. Therefore, I better get started now and quit being left behind.
And I am a noob to Slashdot, so you hit the nail right on the head on that one. = )
Wow! Thanks for the info. I am going to try out those CD's and give them a shot. I like the idea of being able to "play" with them and not mess up my current install. I thought about blowing away my install of Windows, but I use my HDTV as a monitor and it took a couple of us to get it configured correctly.
This is exactly what I am talking about though, dumbing it down and making it easy for someone to play around and try Linux. I really appreicate the info!
I don't think we need to make Linux "more like Windows". I think that maybe making a Linux GUI look like Windows may help convert the novice user.
You have to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Here is thing: you get someone to try it out because it looks familiar to what they already have, and as time passes they will become more informed and eventually use a more experienced setup. The hook though is the initial "look alike", to Windows. I think Linux could grow its population of users by developing easer to install and use distros that will feel/perhaps install like Windows. However, I admit I am no expert and this is just my speculation and opinion.
True. But during those times of warfare with swords there were bows and arrows, catapults, sling-shot and other various projectile weapons.
Did you ever see the movie, The Last Samurai? It was all about how the Samurai culutre was being pushed out of Japan because Western/Modern technology with guns and warfare was being introduced by the emperor. I think it really spoke to the topic of the sword vs the modern gun/warfare.
Think of it this way. Warfare back in the day with swords were the main weapon was brutal. You know it's going to suck getting sliced up with a sword. That's not pretty. Then again getting shot with a round and having it bounce around internally may not be any better.
Yes, I am sure cutting someone's hand off with a lasersword is much more civilized then shooting them in the chest with a lasergun. I mean come on! It would really suck to get sliced up by a laser sword. Then again, it would cauterize the wound so maybe that's why it was more civilized???
That is why the Jedi's were so hardcore. In a world of laserguns they were using laserswords and the force. They didn't need no stinking badgers! err.. guns!
What will happen to Firefox when IE 7 comes out?
on
Firefox Promo Videos
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Personally, I just made a switch from IE to Firefox. I like FF a lot, it reminds me of Safari. I use to have a G4 and I fell in love with the Safari browser. I later sold my G4 and went a long time without a computer. I'm a PC tech, and I need to hate having PC's at home b/c all I do is work on them. Now I have a 75% built windows machine to surf the web and run Doom3. Other than that I don't use my PC.
My thoughts are though, since Billy has up'd the release of IE 7, I am sure he is going to make it a FF killer. I'm positive things like tabbed browsing and some other goodies are going to be in the new version. In addition, I wonder if Microsoft may use some of the same marketing ideas that FF is now using? MS is already showing the new Xbox 360 on MTV, could we see similar things with the new flavor of IE? Maybe they will reinvent their paradigm and try to reach users who have switched to FF and bring them back to the dark side?
I agree with what you are saying; they have hooked a lot of people when they first purchased a PC. When I bought mine, it was off a buddy who was going to college for CIS. It was an AT&T PC that was running 95c I believe. I cashed out savings bonds to buy it, and that's how I started.
Fast forward to today, I'm a PC Tech, fixing Windows stuff, (it's all I have ever known), and Apple, Linux/Unix, FreeBSD is all literally a foreign language to me. I did have a G4 for a little bit, but I used it for nothing other than surfing the web so I sold it. I don't code and even though Jaguar is simple enough to navigate, I really couldn't warrant keeping it around, so I used the money to buy stereo equipment.:)
All that being said, I still would like to learn about other operating systems. However I find it painful to do so. Like you said before, Windows is the only OS a lot of people know. Getting started with a flavor of Linux seems so painful. So how does one with no knowledge make the "switch" so to say from Windows to Linux? I think the Linux community needs to come up with a methodology to make the switch easier for those folks who don't want to put their whole life into learning an OS and dumb it down a bit.
Most handset makers are pushing their own software, while upstart Blackberry is grabbing marketshare among business users that want a phone-cum-organiser.
Okay I may have a mind that tends to wander in the gutter, but I doubt anyone really understands enough Latin to appreicate the author's meaning in writing "phone-cum-organizer". I wouldn't have published that on the web. Or maybe I'm just perverted?
I thought it was worth my time to send a fax. Then again, if Congress doesn't read the bills, why should they bother to read our faxes!
Anyways, I had a lot of SQL errors when trying to fill out the information to send the fax. Refreshing the website seemed to get by it. Just thought I would share.
Slashdot Mirror
No problem. It's all Love. = )
I totally understand. Most people expect PC Techs to be masters of all things computers, and most likely to have dabbled in Linux. Honestly I find there are two kinds of techs.
1. You get a job as a tech and after you work with PCs for awhile at your job you begin to hate them. You sell your PC, and you generally avoid them at all costs. Your hobby turned in to a job, and therefore you give up on your hobby because working on computers is all you do all day at work and you need a freakin break!
2. You get a job as a tech and continue to mess around with computers at home. You expand your one PC setup to two, then three. Later you have your own web, FTP and file server. You install some flavor of Linux and you network your Windows and Linux PCs together. You get the idea from here.
I am the first one, and a lot of the people I work with fall in to this category as well. We use to geek out and be on the net and working on computers 24/7. Now we tend to avoid them whenever possible.
My interest in other OS is because I want to get into Networking and I believe a background in Linux/Unix would be helpful. And I really think Linux, open-source and all that stuff is the wave of he future. Therefore, I better get started now and quit being left behind.
And I am a noob to Slashdot, so you hit the nail right on the head on that one. = )
I can see your point on that. However would that be an issue for FF, people not switching because some of the "cool" features are now included in IE?
I think that IE should have had tabbed browsing a long time ago really. But MS is probably to busy patching security holes. = )
Wow! Thanks for the info. I am going to try out those CD's and give them a shot. I like the idea of being able to "play" with them and not mess up my current install. I thought about blowing away my install of Windows, but I use my HDTV as a monitor and it took a couple of us to get it configured correctly.
This is exactly what I am talking about though, dumbing it down and making it easy for someone to play around and try Linux. I really appreicate the info!
I don't think we need to make Linux "more like Windows". I think that maybe making a Linux GUI look like Windows may help convert the novice user.
You have to appeal to the lowest common denominator. Here is thing: you get someone to try it out because it looks familiar to what they already have, and as time passes they will become more informed and eventually use a more experienced setup. The hook though is the initial "look alike", to Windows. I think Linux could grow its population of users by developing easer to install and use distros that will feel/perhaps install like Windows. However, I admit I am no expert and this is just my speculation and opinion.
True. But during those times of warfare with swords there were bows and arrows, catapults, sling-shot and other various projectile weapons.
Did you ever see the movie, The Last Samurai? It was all about how the Samurai culutre was being pushed out of Japan because Western/Modern technology with guns and warfare was being introduced by the emperor. I think it really spoke to the topic of the sword vs the modern gun/warfare.
Think of it this way. Warfare back in the day with swords were the main weapon was brutal. You know it's going to suck getting sliced up with a sword. That's not pretty. Then again getting shot with a round and having it bounce around internally may not be any better.
Yes, I am sure cutting someone's hand off with a lasersword is much more civilized then shooting them in the chest with a lasergun. I mean come on! It would really suck to get sliced up by a laser sword. Then again, it would cauterize the wound so maybe that's why it was more civilized???
That is why the Jedi's were so hardcore. In a world of laserguns they were using laserswords and the force. They didn't need no stinking badgers! err.. guns!
Personally, I just made a switch from IE to Firefox. I like FF a lot, it reminds me of Safari. I use to have a G4 and I fell in love with the Safari browser. I later sold my G4 and went a long time without a computer. I'm a PC tech, and I need to hate having PC's at home b/c all I do is work on them. Now I have a 75% built windows machine to surf the web and run Doom3. Other than that I don't use my PC.
My thoughts are though, since Billy has up'd the release of IE 7, I am sure he is going to make it a FF killer. I'm positive things like tabbed browsing and some other goodies are going to be in the new version. In addition, I wonder if Microsoft may use some of the same marketing ideas that FF is now using? MS is already showing the new Xbox 360 on MTV, could we see similar things with the new flavor of IE? Maybe they will reinvent their paradigm and try to reach users who have switched to FF and bring them back to the dark side?
I have some beer, bud or bud-light?
:)
I agree with what you are saying; they have hooked a lot of people when they first purchased a PC. When I bought mine, it was off a buddy who was going to college for CIS. It was an AT&T PC that was running 95c I believe. I cashed out savings bonds to buy it, and that's how I started.
Fast forward to today, I'm a PC Tech, fixing Windows stuff, (it's all I have ever known), and Apple, Linux/Unix, FreeBSD is all literally a foreign language to me. I did have a G4 for a little bit, but I used it for nothing other than surfing the web so I sold it. I don't code and even though Jaguar is simple enough to navigate, I really couldn't warrant keeping it around, so I used the money to buy stereo equipment.
All that being said, I still would like to learn about other operating systems. However I find it painful to do so. Like you said before, Windows is the only OS a lot of people know. Getting started with a flavor of Linux seems so painful. So how does one with no knowledge make the "switch" so to say from Windows to Linux? I think the Linux community needs to come up with a methodology to make the switch easier for those folks who don't want to put their whole life into learning an OS and dumb it down a bit.
Most handset makers are pushing their own software, while upstart Blackberry is grabbing marketshare among business users that want a phone-cum-organiser.
Okay I may have a mind that tends to wander in the gutter, but I doubt anyone really understands enough Latin to appreicate the author's meaning in writing "phone-cum-organizer". I wouldn't have published that on the web. Or maybe I'm just perverted?
I thought it was worth my time to send a fax. Then again, if Congress doesn't read the bills, why should they bother to read our faxes! Anyways, I had a lot of SQL errors when trying to fill out the information to send the fax. Refreshing the website seemed to get by it. Just thought I would share.