Re: [SLUG] Want Linux on your desktop? Nine reasons to forget about it

From: Paul M Foster (paulf@quillandmouse.com)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 23:34:52 EDT


On Tue, Jun 12, 2001 at 07:15:02PM -0400, leo wrote:

> I'm almost sure I am going to be unpopular when I ask this question, but
> WHY??????????????? does everyone want a remake of Windows? Does anybody out
> there envision a desktop control system that isn't just a plain command line
> but also is not a collection of little pictures and pop-up windows? I
> honestly believe that over time, in order to keep adding all the functions
> that people seem to demand, how can it not get all balled up? I think the
> KISS principle is so appropriate in this context. OK, go ahead, bash
> me.............leo.
>

You can't even _simply_ admin a system from the command line either. The
more packages/features, the more complex admin becomes. The solution has
generally been to add levels and more broadly categorize things, the
more complex the system becomes.

Years ago, I did MIS/DP functions for several companies. At the time,
Windows was in its infancy, so you did things at the DOS prompt.
Universally, users were afraid of typing things at the prompt. "What
happens if I misspell something?!" "What if I type it wrong?!" And
learning all those arcane DOS commands meant that users actually had to
_work_ and _learn_ and _remember_ things.

Then along came Xerox PARC and the Xerox Star, then Apple, who ripped it
off from them, and then Microsoft, who stole it from Apple and called it
"Windows". All of a sudden, users just had to point and click. No arcane
commands, etc. (In my opinion, it's no coincidence that at the same time
this was happening, literacy levels had been dropping like a rock for
years.)

People like the colorful little pictures that you point to with the
little rolly thing.

And if you want to increase the influence of Linux on the desktop, you
have to go after the vast majority of computer users out there, who run
Windows. Corporations already know that retraining people is a nightmare
and very expensive. So if you want to switch those desktop users over to
Linux, the best way to do it is make their new home (Linux) as much like
what they came from as possible.

Look at it this way: housewives use laundry detergent by opening the box
and pouring some out into the washer, sometimes maybe using a measuring
cup. You come along with a new kind of detergent. And the way they have
to use this stuff is different. They have to soak all their clothes in
it before they put them on, and then just thow them in the washer when
they're through wearing them. How many housewives will switch?

I'm not arguing in favor of making Linux a Windows clone. I'm only
saying that this is the marketing idea behind this, and it's not a bad
one.

Of course, Ed's idea of coming up with something "outside the box" is
valid, _if_ someone can do it. But I haven't seen it yet.

Me? I like the command line.

Paul



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