Linux has been around for ages. However, it’s never been (and may never be) as popular among the average punter as Windows or Mac OS are. The following entry has some sensible reasons why.
Linux has been around for ages. However, it’s never been (and may never be) as popular among the average punter as Windows or Mac OS are. The following entry has some sensible reasons why.
Yes, that really is the case – most people don’t know anything about operating systems, nor do they want to. They want to turn the thing on, do their work (or play) and then put it away again. The could care less about Red Hat, Debian, Ubuntu etc.
Linspire is the closest I’ve seen to a system that works reasonably well for an amateur. Their Click N Run software really makes updates and software installs much simpler for the average user, and I’m glad they’ve cross-licensed it with Ubuntu. However, Linspire is surprisingly more complex to use than Windows. And you have to make a decision to buy it in the first place, when almost all PCs come with Windows pre-loaded.
When Linux becomes common enough that people see it all the time at work, then they’ll start to accept it as their home system – not before.
doesn’t surprise me at all. I’m not a computer geek, and dealing with linux et al is a huge case of “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze”. I’m reasonably satisfied with my Windows operated boxes, thankyouverymuch.
I don’t own a car, I rent one about 5 or 6 times a year for the weekend when visiting family and carrying packages is important. When my nephews by way of starting conversation with me asked what kind of car I had, my usual answer was along the lines of “white”. It’s four wheels as shortest distance between two points, and the esoteric chatter between car enthusiasts about the gizmos or features of their wheels leaves me bemused. It’s very much the same for computers.
I want my computer to do stuff for me – run my word processor, spreadsheet, web browser, email. That’s pretty much it, and just HOW it does it I don’t really care – it’s a black box. And yes, I’m old enough in computerland to remember command prompts and literally floppy disks. I’m happy to be past that.
We both know individuals on soc.motss who get very agitated about choice of OS, or browser, or news-reading software. I’m sure he’s happy feeling superior to little ol’ moi using windows. But as for “improving” what I do – the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.