Re: Installation
On 09/08/2012 11:51 AM, Camaleón wrote:
> On Fri, 07 Sep 2012 13:37:55 -0700, Weaver wrote:
>
>> I know how hard it can be to see the forest when you are too close to
>> the trees, so I thought I would re-post something I put up in another
>> forum where Miguel de Icaza's recent communication was being discussed
>> and in answer to Vaughan-Nicholl's recent article of semi-acceptance.
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> The most 'untechie' person on the planet can use any Linux distribution
>> once it is installed.
>
> (...)
>
>> The reason they don't is the install procedure.
>
> (...)
>
> I think it's not that easy.
>
> First, because "untechie" users neither have to install Windows nor MacOS
> as both usually come along with the computer in a pre-installed form thus
> they only have to provide some basic data.
>
> And secondly (and most important, IMO) once the Linux system has been
> installed, configured and ready to use there's still the problem with
> applications. You only have to tell "untechies" that they cannot install
> Photoshop CS[whatever] and their response (98% of the time) will be
> something like "what kind of crap is this?" ;-)
>
> Linux is more like an intense mental activity that requires from your
> attention (and high doses of patience and interest) and not all the
> people is ready/looking for that.
>
> Greetings,
>
To add to Camaleón's points I'd also observe that -- even when users do
install Windows, they usually do so from an installer (possibly a
really, really bad one customized by the computer manufacturer) that
doesn't ask (m)any questions about what's already on the system. Windows
installers don't give a rap about whether or not you'll be able to boot
the OS that was previously on the system before Windows was installed.
There's a kind of hubris to that that we (the FOSS community) wouldn't
be thrilled to see coming from our own distributions, I think.
But making those assumptions makes it pretty easy for Microsoft and its
business partners to make an installer that's easy to use. All it has to
do is re-pave the highway.
GNU/Linux/HURD/BSD users have a lot of freedom to configure things just
the way they want them. That requires them to do anywhere from a little
to a lot of learning. The people who are turned off by the effort of
finding out how to choose a partition scheme (pretty darned easy by
default in Debian, for instance) or a file system (also not hard by
default in the d-i) are probably not going to enjoy the party once
they're here.
The people who do take interest in such things -- like I did back when I
used DOS and Windows -- probably aren't going to balk at all at what
they find in the d-i expert install. I didn't. I went straight from all
Windows to all GNU/Linux without bothering with virtual machines or dual
booting or any of that stuff. Just saved my data to a safe place, took
all the machines to Debian testing, and stuck our data back on the "new"
systems.
Actually, the hardest part of the switch was finding a way to convert
some of the data from proprietary formats to open formats.
Good fortune to you!
the worrier
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