At 02:49 PM 9/14/1998 -0400, you wrote: >Kent West <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >> LaTex, etc, may be far superior to wordprocessors, but again, >> there's the psychological issue of leaving one world (Windows) and >> trying to find similarities (WordPerfect, Word, Excel, etc) in the >> new world (Linux). > >This is the source of all your problems. You are trying to recreate >Windows. It just ain't gonna happen. > >Instead of thinking about applications, think about what you want to >accomplish. As long as you think "I need a word processor", instead >of "I need to create and print documents", you are going to have >problems with GNU/Linux. >
And I don't mind changing my mindset; it's just that when I started into Linux, I had no idea just how much of a mindset change would be needed. It takes a lot of fortitude to change one's mindset that much. My point is that a lot of Windows users won't do this unless they have a lot of handholding. Debian documentation/utilities may be the best in the Linux world, but for newbies making the switch it's a whole new paradigm, and without better hand-holding a lot of them will sink back into the mire. However, you do make a very good point, that Linux is not about recreating Windows. I think a lot of people making the switch (like myself), expect to find an OS that's different and better, yet somehow the same. After a little bit of immersion in the new world, it quickly becomes clear that we need to adopt a new mindset. But again, there needs to be some sort of transition product, such as documentation for the Debian-illiterate. Most of the documentation I've found has been geared for the Debianites. There needs to be some for the Windowsians who want to become Debianites, but who aren't yet there. As I mentioned, contributing to the documentation is something I would be willing to do, but until I know what I'm writing about, it'd be stupid for me to try to write about it. I just got a message from another user who is working on some documentation for the newbies. I won't mention names because I don't know if s/he wants the publicity, but perhaps in a few days/weeks/months us newbies will have something more akin to what we need. At any rate, I still think Debian is top notch. And I VERY much appreciate the help I've gotten on this list from such as yourself. Thanks. =========================================================== Kent West | Technology Support/ | Abilene Christian University | Voice: 915-674-2557 FAX: 915.674.6724 | ACU Station, Box 29005 | E-MAIL: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Abilene, TX 79699-9005 | Ham: KC5ENO, General | ===========================================================
