Re: Attracting newbies (Was Booting Debian/testing fails)
On Mon, 5 Feb 2007 19:18:54 -0800
Andrew Sackville-West <andrew@farwestbilliards.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 05, 2007 at 06:43:14PM -0800, Michael M. wrote:
>
> > And yet, just saying "Windows is dangerous" doesn't say anything
> > about why or how you should use Linux, nor does it say anything
> > about which Linux distro you should use, nor why Linux would be a
> > better choice than OS X for these users, if in fact it would be.
>
> Very true. It is just a starting point. Much like the progress of
> tobacco smoking in the US (and maybe elsewhere, but here I am, in the
> US). It was initially accepted and even encouraged. The transition
> towards change began with admitting that it was a health problem.
>
> So it goes with computers. Admitting there is a problem with the
> generally accepted computing platform is the first step in phasing out
> that platform for something more robust (whatever that may be).
>
> Gosh. sounds like a 12 step program for windows users...
Maybe it's not such a bad idea ;) But many from outside the US would not
get the joke (I got it because it was obvious from what you wrote). But
instead of targeting Windows we could make it:
"12 steps to get rid of bad computer habits"
We would at least teach them good practices. Even Windows can (with
lots of effort) be made a reasonably (whatever that means) safe
environment. And we could steer users in the right directions (1. don't
run as admin, 2. use secure browsers/email clients, 3. use open formats
for documents, ...)
> > It's also a fact that most
> > of the exploited vulnerabilities in Windows are vulnerabilities
> > that Microsoft has already fixed, but millions of Windows users
> > have not applied because they can't be bothered or don't know how
> > to use Windows Update. It's hard for me to imagine how these users
> > would cope with the need to enter "apt-get update && apt-get
> > upgrade" in a terminal, which would look very alien to people
> > who've only ever done point & click.
>
> It is a tragedy. So many pwned boxen. Nothing about modern computing
> was designed with what is the current average user in mind. At least
> it appears that way to me in my limited knowledge. Computing was
> designed for researchers and scientists. The parts we all use day in
> and day out are simply layers over the top of that structure.
It's the same with cars. No matter how sophisticated they are and how
simple they are to drive (and we do require a driver's license) we
still get a lot (most) of accidents due to user errors.
Regards,
Andrei
--
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
(Albert Einstein)
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