[clue-talk] Why Linux is being killed by Linux "experts"....

[Nate Duehr]

Kevin Cullis wrote:

> You're thoughts are exactly what I'm talking about. Geeks need to get 
> out of the CPU case and start talking to real people about real problems 
> at the novice/inexperience level and not be so blinded by the 
> technology. You've done exactly what I'm asking NOT to do: take someone 
> who's a novice to a geek haven, or at least you can expect them to have 
> their eyes roll back into their head when they walk into a place like 
> that. And I'm not talking about only Best Buy or CompUSA, I was talking 
> in general ALL retail outlets, if possible. Not all of what is sold is 
> crap, but some of it is, for sure, no different than we could say of any 
> other organization as well, right?

My only thoughts along these lines are... if someone asks I'll gladly 
tell them how I get real work done with computers -- i.e. Not M$ 
products.  I'll also tell them that the software is generally 
free-as-in-beer (the hook) and that they might have to learn some things 
to use it properly (the bad news) but nothing rocket-science.  And that 
I've been using it for over a decade and that it has always been stable 
and relatively secure, and I'll help them install it because they've 
probably never installed an Operating System before, if they pick out 
the hardware or have older hardware to try it out on.

Most already start staring blankly at this point and I realize that home 
computing will always be about the Marketing - the vast majority of 
people using home computers are either a) working for a Corporation that 
uses M$ products and they want to work from home, or b) just following 
the popular crowd with no particular reason for buying a computer in 
mind other than mindless phrases like "Your child will have a head-start 
if the family has a computer."  It's rare to find people that actually 
buy a system with a goal in mind.

For those people that do, especially friends and family, I spend extra 
time quizzing them about their desires for the system, and if they can 
afford it, the answer usually is "Buy a Mac."  Most want multimedia 
creation and editing and they want it done VERY EASILY.  As long as 
their camera(s) are supported, iPhoto and iMovie are hard to beat for 
ease of use by a complete novice to multimedia editing.  I don't get any 
phone calls from these people asking about arcane menu items in some 
video editing software I don't even own that they pirated from some 
buddy and the machine's slow because it has a virus now... you know? 
They get the complete package with the machine and can do all the 
"usual" things a home user wants to do, Day one.

Can I set them up a Linux machine to do this or recommend a distro 
that's close.  Yeah.  Are they going to be confused by bad user 
interfaces and crappy college student code.  Absolutely.  Do I want to 
support that as my part-time job?  Definitely not.

They have to WANT to run Linux before I'll EVER recommend Linux to them. 
  I try the hooks and good news about Linux and if they're motivated 
enough to WANT it, then I help.  If they're the "average Joe" and don't 
care about what software they run, I go with the best quality software 
for their particular application... whatever that is.  I make a small 
pitch for Linux, but I know where Linux falls down and there's certain 
things I just won't recommend it to people for, in good conscience.

I think the philosophical disconnect here is you're talking about how to 
get local businesses to understand there's a real small business segment 
  out there running Linux and they can (and should) partner up and learn 
some things about Linux and teach their staff, or get out of the way...

But the average home user they're selling to (who 80% of the time 
doesn't really truly NEED a home computer anyway) is their target 
market... it's the bread and butter.  You're fighting an uphill battle.

What do you think?

Nate