Simon Martin wrote: >I am still adamant that any attempt to paint Linux as an out of the box >solution > with no prior knowledge is a real danger to the on-going comercial success of > Linux. I worked in tech-support for Xerox for about 7 > years (Xerox used to sell Apple Mac, IBM PS/2 and Dell in Latin America), and > I would say that at least 70% of the problems we had > we with users who not only did not know what they were doing (no problems > with that) but who did not WANT to know what they were > doing. Microsoft has fixed the image of it's OS as "just use and ignore it". > >Let's not fall into that trap.
I agree. I also worked on Tech support for a large company using Windows and found the same thing. IMHO the real issue is that there needs to be *two* kinds of Operating Systems, as we have now - the Windows kind where the user can install and use it without too much knowledge, with the slick GUI's, and the GNU/Linux kind as found in Debian distribution which can be configured, and most importantly taken apart to see how it works, and then put back together again, so giving people the chance to learn and understand about Operating Systems. IMHO there are two important issues. First, what we must not do is allow GNU/Linux to just imitate Windows - we must have and maintain a GNU/Linux distribution which is for techies and people who want to become techies. Let Corel and others have a distribution which they can make easier, but let us This leads to the second important issue - free software. Debian is important because it is committed to the principles of free software, *and* because it gives us the chance to help develop it, to participate. I may be wrong but there seems to me to be a sense of community among Debian users/developers which you just don't get with Windows and the stuff produced by big corporations. As Corel and other corporate concerns develop GNU/Linux I am sure they will go the same way - it will be them, the corporation, and us, the users, plus restrictive license agreements which take away freedoms. To sum up - what IMHO is important is not the commercial success of GNU/Linux, but keeping GNU/Linux tweakable, learnable, interesting and composed of free software with all the advantages that brings in terms of community and development. Godric
