Desktop Linux (fwd)

[p.lussier at comcast.net]

In a message dated: Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:57:09 PST
Michael Costolo said:

>But what applications do Mom and Dad use at work that do not have
>*equivalents* on a Linux box?  

Ironically, in my daughter's case, her father uses applications on 
Linux and Mac OS at work that are a royal pain in the butt to get 
working on Windows :)

Though, interestingly, all the apps I do use, do have Windows ports
(bash, perl, emacs, ethereal, etc :)

I use gnucash pretty heavily, and I think you *can* get it to run on 
Windows, but you need to first install CygWin, Gnome, etc.  For me, 
it's just plain _easier_ to use Linux :)

>The super clueless are perhaps a lost cause in any event.

I had a user yesterday I had to migrate from a Mac running OS X to
Win2K.  He *wanted* to move to Windows because he was "more familiar"
with it.  The first 5 minutes he was on the Windows machine all he did
was complain about how the the look and feel stunk compared his Mac.
I finally asked him why he was changing?  I never got an answer, but
at one point he actually stated that he was really annoyed that we
"didn't spend money on IT to things properly and just suck it up and
bring in an Exchange Server, at least then, things would just work
right!".

So, yes, I concur.  The super clueless are lost cause.  Ironically, 
it proved to me that no matter what you put in front of them, Mac, 
Windows, or even Linux, they'll get along on any of them equally.

>> Yes, it really does depend on the use of Linux at work.  People want to
>> use what they are familiar with. They use a computer at work far more
>> then they do at home, so the one at work is where they gain their
>> experience. 

I don't know about that.  I'm becoming more and more convinced that 
some people have absolutely no clue about what they're familiar with.
They think they have an idea of what they know, but they really have 
no idea what they know or don't know.

>But at work what to they *do*?  Spreadsheets, documents, email, web-browsing? 
>(Probably in the reverse order.) Regardless of platform, they all work pretty 
>much the same.  Do you honestly think people in general are so Microsoft-braindead 
>that they don't believe that they can compose an email if they don't have Outlook? 
>Or write a letter if they don't have Word?  
>
>Is it *really* that bad?

I think that people *think* that that is true, but as I said, what 
they don't realize is that they're completely clueless.  This Mac
user I mentioned above "came from a Windows world" previously but has 
been on Mac OS X for at least 6 months now using Mail.app and iCal.
Granted, he was using Office v.X for Mac, but that's not a big deal.
This person was first telling me that "we should have just gotten an 
Exchange Server", and then, upon launching Outlook (which he couldn't 
figure out how to do at first) exclaimed that the interface was 
horrible and he preferred the Mail.app and iCal interfaces.
Not to mention that the font in Outlook was atrocious.

I honestly believe people just like to bitch about things (just look
at this group :).  Give them a system, show them how to use it, and
tell them they have no choice, and they'll quickly learn to adapt.

-- 

Seeya,
Paul
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