Migration from Windows to Linux

[Ed Lawson]

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 09:07:46 -0400
"David Ecklein" <dave at diacad.com> wrote:


> Thanks for the leads.  This is indeed a big subject, an elephant is in
> the room, and there has been so little discussion of it.


I have lurked on this thread, but will give a few thoughts.  First, I am
not a technically astute or knowledgeable person.  I use only Linux at
home and I use Linux extensively at work.  So I guess I have gone
through the migration process even though I did not think a great deal
about it.  I would be happy to discuss issues and address questions here
or privately.  For me computers are almost exclusively "black boxes" by
which I accomplish work.  I do not enjoy dealing with hardware and
basically just want things to work and work in a way that lets me get
tasks done as quickly and as easily as possible.
> 

> As I see it, there are two purely objective parts to the migration. 
> The first objective is identifying parallel features and executables
> in the two OS worlds

I look at this differently.  The issue is not finding similar or
duplicate programs.  It issue is identifying what you need/want to do
and then selecting the applications to do them.  If you start out
thinking, I need a program that does what Access does and it needs to do
it the same way; then you will encounter problems/disappointments. I
often tell people Linux is not a replacement for a Windows environment,
it is an alternative.  One of the things I miss in the windows world is
the variety of software and the ability to select software that works
they way I like software to work/look.  Of course the uniformity in the 
windows world is a strength from a different perspective.  As an
example, I don't care for KDE even though I can recognize its value.  I
just prefer Gnome.


> 
> I was not addressing the third, somewhat subjective, part of  the
> migration - that of the migrating user's necessity to deal with all
> the system trivia and steep learning curve of the "paradigm shift",
> but this is obviously important.

I agree this is a big issue.  While it is easy to claim the average
computer appliance user would not necessarily notice all that big a
difference, there are fundamental differences and there is no way to
avoid taking the time and effort to learn how things work in Linux.
I frankly never noticed a steep learning curve and consider the system
trivia just a natural part of learning how to use an operating system. 
this may have been due to the fact that I had used several 
operating systems in the past.

I agree with the suggestion of setting up a computer with Linux and
avoiding a dual boot system.  I also have definite preferences regarding
distributions, but so do we all and that is for another time and place.

Ed Lawson