Not my problem exactly...
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| mvermeer Aug 18, 2007 7:36 AM EDT |
...mine is "you love that $%*@# thing more than me!" |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 18, 2007 8:52 AM EDT |
Haven't got that problem. My girlfriend is a big geek as well. We own 8 computers between the two of us, half of those are servers. She's also a metalhead, like me :-) |
| ColonelPanik Aug 18, 2007 3:24 PM EDT |
My girlfriend is my wife of 36 years. Nan has two lappys running Ubuntu 7.10
Its all about the distro. Keep the humor in Linux |
| mvermeer Aug 19, 2007 5:12 AM EDT |
Sander, CP: lucky you! BTW my wife uses Linux too... has been since 2000. It's what the local IT support recommends ;-) But a geek? No. (BTW Linux is perfectly OK today for a home office if there's a support person around. I've even painted Liisa out of corners overseas, using ssh. I wouldn't bother with Windows, already have a daytime job ;-/ ) |
| tqk Aug 19, 2007 7:28 AM EDT |
Quoting:BTW Linux is perfectly OK today for a home office if there's a support person aroundThat's odd. I often tell people Windows may be suitable for use in a business as long as it can afford to keep a stable full of Windows support staff on the payroll too. I'd question why they'd want to waste money on the latter, but the choice is theirs to make. Linux is perfectly okay for pretty much any use straight out of the box, and if you can get to Usenet or the web, there's always competent support available. Once set up reasonably correctly, it doesn't just blow up on you every month or two. Using Windows, without a lot of cash for apps and utilities and support staff, is a recipe for disaster. FLOSS is a great way to avoid that mess altogether. Just yesterday, my sister complained her copy of MS Office on her iMac no longer worked. She was expecting to have to shell out hundreds of bucks for a new copy. Now, she has OOo 2.2 for PPC installed, has saved herself a few hundred bucks, and is trying to figure out how to uninstall her borked MS Office crap. |
| mvermeer Aug 19, 2007 10:48 AM EDT |
> Now, she has OOo 2.2 for PPC installed, Yeah. Did that to several people, and Firefox to many more. I like their puzzlement at something free being that good, contrary to their conventional wisdom... but what I love is when they get angry -- nobody ever quite forgets the experience of being ripped off. tqk: no, usenet and the web aren't good enough for non-geeks. They need someone local to ask, in the next cubicle, their 'significant other', or whatever. And it's just the same for Windows -- trust me, been there. The only difference being that some of the problems coming up there are high-maintenance without any real solution ;-) (Don't get me started on "house-training" people in problem solving all on their own...) |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 19, 2007 11:11 AM EDT |
> Linux is perfectly OK today for a home office if there's a support person around. I disagree completely. A Linux-based system is _stable_. Everything works tomorrow exactly the way it worked yesterday, exactly as it works right now. Only with Windows is "reboot and try again" a trouble-shooting method that has a high incidence of fixing a problem. People have become accustomed to this instability. Because of Microsoft products, "Therapeutic Reboot" is now a noun. "We", as users and our own systems administrators, tend to fiddle and fuss with our own systems. New kernels, new Xorg versions, this week's Nvidia/ATI driver. We create our own instability because that is what we enjoy playing with. But put in place a working system, and LEAVE IT ALONE (system wise), and the users have a work environment they can depend on day after day, month after month, year after year. It is only in a Microsoft environment that full-time systems staff are needed. A part-time or hourly consultant, used to build new systems or repair some hardware that breaks, is all that a Linux-based business needs. That level of skill is easily available in a programmer or some other already-employed technically adept individual, or can be trained up in house easily if desired. Face fact: Installing Linux is not rocket science, once the process is familiar. Pick a distribution. Choose a stable release. Install from the stable repositories and leave it alone. It's not fun, it's not glamorous, and it's not interesting. That makes it perfect for people who want to get work done. |
| dinotrac Aug 20, 2007 4:26 AM EDT |
>They need someone local to ask, in the next cubicle, their 'significant other', or whatever. Wish I knew how many times I have written in this forum and others pretty much that precise sentiment. That -- also known as a network effect -- is the single biggest advantage Windows has over Linux. I didn't fully understand it until I worked a year writing technical do using Windows tools surrounded by Windows users. Amazing how many workarounds, "Do this's" and "Don't do this's" people accumulate. It's not just about the software. It's about the system, and people -- including workmates, neighbors, newspaper tech columnists, local consultants, radio shows, endless Idiot's Guide to books, etc, are all part of the system. |
| mvermeer Aug 20, 2007 4:45 AM EDT |
Bob, I believe readily that you are able to use a Linux system without a support person (even part time) around. We're not talking about you. For the average "dummy" -- hateful word! --, the instability of the OS is way down on a list that starts with (1) 'between chair and keyboard' issues, and (2) idiosyncratic behaviour in the application stack. It's only when you're a quick learner and comfortable with computers, that it rises to the top. Dino gets it. Heck, one of my neighbours got himself a shiny new Mac. Liisa wants one like that (does anybody know how to paint an old thinkpad white so it looks like a Mac? ;-) So just for fun I made her ask this neighbour, 'is this Mac of yours really as easy to use as they say it is?' After all, it has the reputation. Guess what the answer was. What the Mac lacks, like Linux, is this grapevine ecosystem. |
| dinotrac Aug 20, 2007 5:43 AM EDT |
> What the Mac lacks, like Linux, is this grapevine ecosystem. I think that's why Mac market penetration is strong in some areas and weak in others. If you're a graphic artist or a musician, you probably have Mac-using friends. If you spend your day on spreadsheets, maybe not. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 20, 2007 9:39 AM EDT |
> What the Mac lacks, like Linux, is this grapevine ecosystem. As Dino points out, this "grapevine" ecosystem does exist for Linux, and Mac. It depends upon who your grapevine is. > you are able to use a Linux system without a support person (even part time) around. We're not talking about you. I wasn't writing about me either. Maybe you didn't notice that. OS stability might be "way down the list", but only because the daily Windows instabilities are not known for what they are. The same reason that new users of Linux are shocked, _shocked_, that their machines stay up for weeks on end without rebooting. They didn't know why reboots were needed, they just knew that their system worked better if they rebooted. I don't disagree that many got this information through their technical advice grapevine either. What you hint at is that applications are more important than the OS. I agree with that statement, as far as it goes. Once past the fact that there are very few applications that people in general use daily that are not functionally identical on Windows, Mac and Linux, that "way down the list" turns out to be on/near the top. |
| jdixon Aug 20, 2007 9:59 AM EDT |
> Once past the fact that there are very few applications that people in general use daily that are not functionally identical on Windows, Mac and Linux... While this is true in the aggregate, it's an unfortunate fact that most individual users will have at least one application they use for which it's not true. :( Thus the continual "lack of applications" complaints. |
| Steven_Rosenber Aug 20, 2007 12:41 PM EDT |
What I'd like is a comprehensive, up-to-date reference, all in one place, on how to configure everything -- EVERYTHING -- from the command line. When I do Google for an answer to a problem I'm having, I always wonder, "How did s/he figure THAT out?" Actually, Carla's "Linux Cookbook" comes pretty damn close -- I just wish it were three times as long. I'd buy additional volumes in a very quick second. |
| alc Aug 20, 2007 1:17 PM EDT |
"Actually, Carla's "Linux Cookbook" comes pretty damn close -- I just wish it were three times as long. I'd buy additional volumes in a very quick second." I seem to remember Carla saying that there would be an updated Linux Cookbook coming out sometime in the future.Carla,correct me if I'm wrong or tell us when we can look for the next one. |
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