[NBLUG/talk] [Fwd: RE: [Fwd: Re: #se7en -- http://windows7sins.org/]]

[Ed Rogers]

I forwarded this to a friend at hp (marketing guy for servers). Here is
his take. Just another version of what I was saying before.
Ed

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Re: [NBLUG/talk] #se7en -- http://windows7sins.org/]
From: "Howard, Stephen" <stephen.howard at hp.com>
Date: Thu, September 3, 2009 6:20 pm
To: "ed at rogersecommerce.com" <ed at rogersecommerce.com>

I can understand the comments by "Bob".
It the moment, I'm trapped by what HP requires us to run on the company
PCs.  But, I would have to learn quite a bit to be able to switch my home
PCs to Linux.  And then, other things get a bit complicated.  My kids use
iTunes for their iPODs and can easily do that themselves from a PC.
Microsoft SW is a pain in the butt -- but the HP laptop I got my daughter
included the OS, so when something scrambled it, she could call in to HP
support and they got it reloaded just by talking her through the steps
over the phone -- for free (which is to say, the warranty for Windows was
included in the price of the PC).

I think Linux is probably a much better operating system but there isn't
the easy support available and that makes a big difference.  If someone
tried to put a shell around Linux to make it foolproof, they'd probably
want to be paid for the effort (which would be pretty big considering the
number of different types and generations of PCs there are out there).
And then the experience -- to the under-educated users -- might be about
like Windows.


Stephen Howard | H | Scalable Computing & Infrastructure |
+1.508.467.4788 | Email - stephen.howard at hp.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Rogers [mailto:ed at rogersecommerce.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 11:55 AM
To: Howard, Stephen
Subject: [Fwd: Re: [NBLUG/talk] #se7en -- http://windows7sins.org/]

I'm not sure what flipped the switch for me. It happened just about when
I first heard zappa, but that was a coincidence. -------- Original
Message --------
Subject: Re: [NBLUG/talk] #se7en -- http://windows7sins.org/
From: Bob Blick <bobblick at ftml.net>
Date: Thu, September 3, 2009 5:27 am
To: "General NBLUG chatter about anything Linux, answers to questions,
etc." <talk at nblug.org> Jordan Erickson wrote:

> This needs to be communicated to school districts. Even better,
> alternatives need to be communicated to *everyone*, because most
> people  still don't KNOW that you can run anything but Windows on a PC
> (PC. vs.  Mac is a great example). If people understood what open
> source  was,  especially schools, many of them would be running Linux
> instead  of Windows.

That made me smile. Here are two reasons why you are wrong.

1. Since someone else pays, Windows/OSX and software are essentially free
to schools. So why switch to something that requires time to master? They
already know how to use Photoshop and Word.

2. Substitute "Christianity" for "Windows" and "Islam" for "Linux" and
think how your communication plan would play out. You can just as easily
get someone to switch to Linux as you can get them to become a Muslim. I
know that's not a great analogy and not perfectly true, but you probably
see there is something to it.

People switch to Linux as an individual decision. Change comes from
within. It's a slow process and what flips that switch is different for
everyone.

I've been using Linux for something like 16 years but when someone asks
me about it, it's rare that I suggest they try it. The "bar" is still
higher than Windows/OSX and the last thing I want is for someone to try
it who is not ready and then they are soured for life.

Cheerful regards,

Bob

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------------------------------------------------
Debian: It might start with Ubuntu but before you know it you're on the
hard stuff.


------------------------------------------------
Debian: It might start with Ubuntu but before you know it you're on the
hard stuff.