the book thing

[Michael Costolo]

--- Greg Kettmann <greg at kettmann.com> wrote:
> Perhaps a chapter on each of the key 
> subsystems with step by step instructions for installation and 
> configuration (FTP, SaMBa, SSH, HTTPD (Apache), etc.).  I know that's 
> more difficult than it sounds.  Hopefully some of the obvious problems 
> encountered would be discussed and the solution shown (how to extract a 
> TGZ file, for example).  

If we're still targeting "my mom" as the target audience, this is perhaps excessive.
 Frankly, how many "newbies" even care about FTP, Samba, SSH, or HTTPD?  The "my
mom" class of newbies certainly doesn't.  For that matter, she doesn't even know
what they mean in the first place.  For the brand new Linux user, the first need is
to learn how to use the various GUI interfaces (KDE, GNOME, etc.) and the tools
provided with them to get some sort of work done.  Things like configuring/dialing a
modem or connecting to their DSL line would, in my mind, come way before installing
and configuring Apache, a task that has several books dedicated to it solely if I'm
not mistaken.  

I believe the difficulty for "newbies," particularly those coming from Windows is
that Linux is a very different beast than Windows.  To be of any real use, your
knowledge of Linux must be orders of magnitude greater than it is with Windows. 
Otherwise, what is the point of running Linux?  Linux users seem to actually enjoy
this need for knowledge and are enthusiastic about it - a distinct difference from
typical Windows users.  I don't see this as a necessarily bad thing.  But I do think
that it tends to preclude people like "my mom" from being Linux converts.  

-Mike-

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