Adieu, Fedora

[Dave Ihnat]

On Mon, Jun 13, 2011 at 08:42:57AM +0100, mike cloaked wrote:
> A lot of information on how to do things in linux actually comes from
> lists exactly like this one!

Well, yes.  As does a lot of help for Windows, and Mac...  But the newbies
won't see them.

And they won't do the "Tour" in XP, or Vista, or 7--I've been a consultant
for over 30 years, and nobody I've helped or worked with has *ever* done
the Tour that they've admitted to me.

They ask me, or others.  They look for books; just looking on Amazon in
books with the keyword "Windows" gives top choices (just picking the
starter books):

  Windows 7 For Dummies
  Microsoft Operating Systems
  Windows 7: The Missing Manual
  Windows 7 Inside Out
  Windows 7 Step by Step
  Windows 7 For Seniors for Dummies

And it goes on...and on...for pages.  54,050 results (although we all know
what counts such as that mean, it's apples to apples for similar searches.)

Now, look for Linux--again, only picking the starter books:

  Linux in a Nutshell
  Beginning Ubuntu Linux
  Linux for Dummies
  Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux
  Linux All-in-One For Dummies
  Practical Unix/Linux (For the Rest of Us)

But there are 7,391 results.

Differences?  Well, clearly, far fewer hits than for Windows.  But
qualitatively:

  o The first couple of pages of the Linux search show far, far more
    guru/kernel/CLI/development hits, fewer general-user beginner hits (I
	had to go more pages in to get the same count of six beginner books.)

  o The distro that shows up most often is Ubuntu.  They're doing something
    right--that's getting the attention of the authors.

So if they're inclined to learn about a system, most often I've been asked
"Is there a book?", not "Should I take the Tour?" (well, the latter, never.)

But the other problem is simple familiarity--by now, Windows 7, almost
all users have gone through at least one Windows OS (XP--I'm not counting
Vista); many have worked on two or more.  There *is* a continuity in
behavior, operation, and expectation; even Windows 7 shows its roots
going back to Windows 95 in the UI.  And users crave that comfortable
familiarity; when trying something new, abnormal behavior will strike
hardest, and frustration with what should be simple tasks will cost much
more.

An excellent example--just this weekend, a friend who's technologically
savvy in her field (oceanographic research) and very well-inclined to
Linux decided to try to install a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows XP system.

We all know that graphics support has been the bugaboo (right ahead of
wireless); recent Ubuntu distros (and probably others) have gotten pretty
darn good at detecting and properly setting up adapters.  Unfortunately,
hers wasn't one of them--so there was an immediate "Arrgh!" from her.
Worse, Grub didn't properly see her USB keyboard, so now she's not able to
go back to her XP installation.  Sure, the Grub thing is (probably) a BIOS
configuration problem--legacy USB probably needs to be turned on--but the
tolerance for such problems is low in a new installation, especially with
the fear of losing the current working OS installation.

And yes, xrandr helped--once she reached out--and, well, let her tell it:

    I finally found the xwindows manager - that did recognize the Sony
    monitor and allowed me to change the resolution so that I can see
    the entire desktop.

    The boot problem remains.  And I have a new problem... after watching
    me go through this, the other member of the household is not keen
    on this OS experiment, so I may just use that new disk I have for an
    XP reinstall.  We noticed Ubuntu is not much faster booting or running
    at all than the old installation of XP.... it does shut down faster.

So here's a well-disposed, intelligent but non-CS user who's actually
worked through the first major problem, and has a probable solution
for the second--but even so, is thinking of giving up because of those
issues--partly because of pressure from others in the house, partly
because she hasn't been able to get to the point of investigating the
system because of "starter's unfamiliarity" and initial problems that
colored the experience.

We need to get more beginner docco out there--and get it to people.  Maybe
downloading a Linux distro results in an E-Mail to the user with a link to
"How Linux is Different from Windows"--which is a video, and a text
document, and maybe a downloadable E-Book--that describes what they're
going to see, and how to do the same things in Linux they commonly have to
do in Windows, and how to solve common installation problems--and avoids
fanboi/religious rants while doing so.  (No, this doesn't exist, AFAIK).

Cheers,
--
	Dave Ihnat
	dihnat at dminet.com