Re: [tlug] Japan Times Article on Linux

[Matt Gushee <mgushee@example.com>]

On Sat, Oct 26, 2002 at 11:49:26AM +0900, A. Sajjad Zaidi wrote:

> On Fri, Oct 25, 2002 at 05:39:51PM +0200, Martin Baehr wrote:
> > 
> > well, the point is that this is simply the situation that linux has to
> > face. in order to beat windows, linux must not only be as easy to
> > install as windows, it must be even easier.
> > 
> > windows has an advantage that can not be argued away, to even out that
> > in the long run it must be easier to install linux, than it is to
> > upgrade windows.

If current trends continue, that will probably become impossible in a
strictly technical sense, for anyone who has a reasonable Internet
connection. Microsoft seems to want to do away with shrink-wrapped
software packages and do everything over the wire, and their Windows
Update technology makes it all but effortless to install something new.
I don't see how a replacement OS could ever hope to compete with that
level of convenience.

On the other hand, Microsoft is getting increasingly fascistic and
greedy with their licensing policies. I don't know how that plays in
Japan, but over on this side of the pond a lot of people are very uneasy
about that ... though I imagine only a few will dare to leave the herd.

> And I am sure that it is easier. Off course, its easy for me to say
> it, but I say that from the point of view of long time Windows users.

Well, when you get right down to it, a user-friendly system is whatever
you're used to. Case in point: my Father continued to use WordPerfect
5.1 for DOS up until a year or two ago. He's by no means a technophobe,
and he had tried more "modern" products, but it always meant a new
interface to learn and no compelling advantages. Of course, he's a
professor, so he can get away with being "out of step." But if your life
doesn't revolve around technology, why not stick with what you know.

-- 
Matt Gushee                 When a nation follows the Way,
Englewood, Colorado, USA    Horses bear manure through
mgushee@example.com           its fields;
http://www.havenrock.com/   When a nation ignores the Way,
                            Horses bear soldiers through
                                its streets.
                                
                            --Lao Tzu (Peter Merel, trans.)