This turned out to be one of the more informative threads. Thanks,
everyone, for your insight.
No matter how easy it is to pop in a live CD and go, a lot of people
aren't going to do it simply because they have never and never intend to
load a CD. They buy a Dell or Gateway, pull it out of the box, fumble
with the cables, and go. In a year, their desktop is covered with junk
from everything they pulled off of the web or installed. If they don't
have malware, it's a miracle.
It's possible to buy a car and never raise the hood. Fifty years ago,
owning a car meant changing your own oil, and probably changing your
points, plug, condenser, wires, and distributor. Now, you drive it off
the lot and take it to an oil change place or back to the dealership
every three months or 3000 miles. We're almost there with computers,
but not quite -- except, perhaps, for the Mac. When we see more Linux
machines pre-loaded straight out of the box, Linux will be used more.
When Wal-Mart sold Linux boxes, I was going to get one. I never got
around to it due to financial considerations.
The main thing that kept me from Linux was that I didn't know how to use
Unix, and I didn't want to chase all over the internet for drivers. I
used to manually install drivers in MS DOS machines, but doing so in an
unfamiliar system that wasn't up and running yet didn't sound like a
good use of my time.
While I wasn't looking, someone invented the live CD, and designed a
number of desktop environments that were ready for the big time. When a
friend suggested Linux Mint, I downloaded an ISO, burned it, and was
soon running Elyssa. It took a little while to really get used to the
GUI, but no more than switching up from Windows 98 (which I had been
running for the last eight years or so) to Win 2K and Win XP.
I had a few issues getting the most out of my video card when I upgraded
to Mint 6, so I skipped it. Mint 7 Gloria worked fine. Mint 8 Helena
didn't. I'm currently running Mint 9 Isadora on brand-new hardware.
My point is that loading an OS, any OS, is a crap shoot. If some parts
don't work (like the wireless controller or bluetooth,) most people
can't do anything about it. Even an experienced Windows user isn't
necessarily going to know where to find drivers or change configuration
files. That's still an issue with me. Just where the &*^% is the
Tomboy Notes data stored in Mint 9, anyhow? I moved the .Tomboy
directory over from my old machine, and my new one doesn't see it. To
me, it's an annoyance and an opportunity to learn. To an appliance
operator (to borrow an old ham radio term,) it's a show stopper.
In summary, if someone is used to buying a machine and running it out of
the box, the fact that Linux is free doesn't mean anything because his
new computer already has an OS. Who would swap the engine out of their
car for a new one, even if the new one is free? A few, but by no means
the majority.
If you want to introduce an appliance operator to Linux, you need to
either set the machine up for him, or point him to one of the machines
that come with Linux pre-installed.
Ray Drouillard
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