While I'm away..."My kid hates Linux"

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He is not entitled to his opinion?: "The other day he asked if I could just (GASP!) install XP on the laptop and get rid of Linux because 'Linux sucks.'"

So?

Is he not entitled to his opinion?

Why think about grounding him for having an opinion?

"As many of us know (even the Windows fanboys know it), Linux can meet the needs of those mainstream users quite handily and on the cheap."

Barely.

The problem is you have to abide by very strict boundaries: You have to avoid certain incompatibilities on OpenOffice.org. You have to give up Photoshop's most advanced features if you use the GIMP. You don't have access to a lot of games. A lot of neat little utilities you had aren't available. Some of the drivers are basic, and don't have access to all of the features of all of the devices. Setup after the first install to the preferences you like takes a lot of time. The file system is foreign and filled with abbreviations like "dev" and "bin." The UI defaults to a bland, grey theme. And the list goes on.

It's not one big thing that kills Linux, really. It's 1000 little things that annoy people - and yes, they notice that!

This idea that most users are as blind as bats and "won't notice" the differences between Linux and Windows is 100% wishful thinking.

I'm with your son. I want it to just work. I don't want to deal with customizing the Start/K Menu just because by default it isn't mapped to the Start key (and I don't care what their explanation is). I don't want to deal with different "package" formats. I don't want to deal with /bin and /sbin scattered around a dozen places on the drive. I don't want to deal with running a VM just because some Windows software does the job better than a Linux one, or because it's one of the many games that won't run on Linux. I don't want to deal with Ubuntu sealing off the root. I don't want to deal with UIs that are designed by people who don't know anything about UI design.

And I certainly don't want to deal with selfish developers that are only doing it for themselves and don't care one iota about the customer because the customer isn't buying the product.

Free means you have no vote.

Pay means you vote with your wallet.

I'm thinking I'm finally understanding why there's such a large number of people paying for products they normally get for free:

-Paying means you have a vote on the direction a product takes. Maybe a small vote, but a vote nonetheless.

-Paying means that the company has to fix its mistakes.

--Take Microsoft. Vista had a lot of mistakes. But since people can refuse to buy Vista, that meant that Microsoft had to make fixing it (SP1, Windows 7) a top priority for the following service packs and OS releases.

--No such thing in Linux. If most people don't like something, and it would take a lot of work to fix it, the devs can say "Tough. It's just too difficult to fix."

-Paying means you're dealing with people who care. Maybe sometimes they don't seem like they care - but the truth is, if they didn't care at all, they'd lose all of their customers. You know they will eventually come to their senses.

-Paying means value. Like it or not, how much people pay is often a reflection of the value people see in a product. If something costs $0, that means that people will question its real value. There have been many examples of products actually selling more with a price increase, because people perceived that the product was a higher quality (rightly or wrongly).

-Paying means you're supporting a team of dedicated developers. Not some kids tinkering around during their free time - dedicated developers that work for a living. Writing the software you're using is their job, not a pastime.

-Paying means the devs can afford to perform research.

--This is one thing where Linux is highly lacking: Algorithms are created on the fly, without researching the best ones. UIs are designed based on personal philosophies rather than actual studies with real users - and it shows.

Say as much as you like about how much "the same" Linux and Windows UIs are, that's actually not true. You simply haven't been trained to spot the various design elements that make the UIs different in ways that make it easier for the user.

It's not just features that make the UI - it's the size, position, layout, color, icons, text, etc. Everything adds up. You can have two identically featured programs, but one can be easy to use and the other difficult to use simply because the UI is different.

Anyways - enough of that.

Linux people talk a lot about choice: Why can't you respect your son's choice? If he likes XP, why can't he use it?; Posted by: CobraA1 Posted on: 07/15/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use