On 6/12/99 aphro wrote:
i believe the key to linux expansion is pre installed machines. users will be very hesitant to change their OS from something that works for them, even if it means upgrading from win95 to win98 or nt or win3 to win9x. this isnt something that can be blamed on linux but on installing any other OS.
This hits the nail on the head. users whose closest experience installing an OS was buying the computer from the store have a great fear of messing with the OS itself, such as upgrading it or replacing it altogether. its a big tricky process that if you make one mistake (most of the time) will result in a computer without a bootable OS and that scares the bejeezes out of newbies.
not to mention what to do with the users files scattered about in the smart default save location of C:\WINDOWS\ (my dad had a win95 box once and no matter what you did to it thats where every app wanted to save everything, and most people just hit save where ever the panel happens to be in the filesystem...)
I just wish some of the distros being put together for the preinstall class computer would concentrate on the freedom aspect a little more.. sigh
Ethan