Desktop Linux (fwd)

[Travis Roy]

>>> The perception to many people is that their access provider will
>>> not support you  if you use anything other than the listed
>>> applications
>>
>> The super clueless are perhaps a lost cause in any event.
>
> But in order for things to progress for /US/, we need /THEM/.  IOW, we
> need a market for high-quality professional applications, so that they
> will be produced.  Why doesn't Adobe port Photoshop to Linux?  Simple:
> there's not enough market for it to make it worthwhile.  GIMP is nice,
> but anyone who does professional image work will tell you that
> Photoshop does a lot more.

This is very true. The Linux community needs to understand that the 
gimp is not photoshop, openoffice is not MS office, GNUCash is not 
quicken. The closest thing right now is Evolution and Outlook, and even 
then, there's enough little things to make somebody that's at home in 
Outlook feel a little awkward (me included).

If you tell somebody that uses photoshop for work and tell them to 
switch to Linux and they can get the gimp for free they're going to 
observe 3 things.. One, that the linux and gimp install were easy. Two, 
that linux is just as fast if not faster then windows, and fairly easy 
to navigate and Three, that the gimp is nothing like photoshop and 
there's a reason it's free. Then they'll re-install windows. Then 
they'll get "well there's a reason it's free" attitude and then not 
want to touch it again for a long, long time.

>
>>> The average home user wants a technical support number, not a mailing
>>> list. Besides, if their problem is a networking problem, or they 
>>> can't
>>> get their e-mail to work right, then they have no help.
>>
>> Certainly true.  But the point was that an alternate support system
>> *does* exist.  Not in the same form, but so what?
>
> So what is it keeps people from using Linux.  End of story.

Exactly, sometimes people don't want a tech support phone number for 
help, they want it to yell at somebody that their stuff isn't working.