The future of linux

[dmartin at ne.arris-i.com (Derek Martin)]

On Mon, 31 Jan 2000, Jerry Callen wrote:

> I'm not sure most non-Unix-savvy people would find installing new apps
> all that easy. It's pretty mindless under Windows, and in my experience,
> it *usually* works.

It's alredy getting that way though.  Linux has autorun, and I installed
Quake3 for Linux just by clicking on setup and following the prompts.  The
tools to make that happen are already in place.

> I think it's hard to be objective about this stuff; most of us on this
> mailing list just know too much about Unix to be able to see it from
> the perspective of a new user.
> 
> I'm in the process of bringing Linux into a client's site where all
> they've ever known is DOS and Windows. Realistically, nearly all of the
> users will remain on Windows, and Linux will be used primarily as a
> file server (yea, Samba!). However, one or two programmers, who've
> been using mostly DOS for the past 10 years, will wind up logging into
> the Linux servers and using compilers, scripts, etc. These folks are 
> not dumb, but the one who's starting to learn Linux is finding the 
> learning curve to be pretty steep. If you've never used a multi-user
> operating system before, even such basic concepts as a "process"
> and the notion of a "home directory" take some getting used to. It's
> been a real eye-opener for me.

Yep, I admitted up front I am guilty of this.  I don't know how one would
get around that, other than to ask a new user... Ask the user?  What a
novel concept! :)

-- 
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"    "Who watches the watchmen?" 
-Juvenal, Satires, VI, 347 

Derek D. Martin      |  Senior UNIX Systems/Network Administrator
Arris Interactive    |  A Nortel Company
derekm at mediaone.net  |  dmartin at ne.arris-i.com
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