[ox-en] Is GNU/Linux difficult? (was: Re: Fw: [LINK] EverythingLinux offers Linux CDs to charities)
- From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
- Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 20:59:23 +0200
Hi people on `list-en oekonux.org'!
Geert forwarded two mails to me. Perhaps I can add something useful to
this. I'm copying this to the list without permission of the
respective authors :-( .
Hi Geert!
Some things about Linux being difficult. Feel free to post it to the
respective list but please drop me a note when doing so.
6 days ago geert wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chirgwin, Richard" <Richard.Chirgwin informa.com.au>
To: <link www.anu.edu.au>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2001 9:55 AM
Subject: RE: [LINK] EverythingLinux offers Linux CDs to charities
Hi Richard, Craig!
Craig,
I didn't notice Robin introducing the Windows easy/Linux hard dichotemy.
I have approached both as an ordinary user. Linux is "documented" as you say
- but the documents assume an intimidating amount of knowledge.
Both can, however, be pre-installed before delivery to the end user.
have you ever tried to install windows 95 from scratch? it's nearly
bloody impossible unless you're an experienced computer technician or
computer hobbyist willing to have a go and learn.
A friend of mine which is installing both, Windows and GNU/Linux, says
that GNU/Linux is far easier.
That's a little hyperbolic. I've done Tandy Basic, Wang Basic, DOS, Win 3.1,
95, NT and Linux. 95 is easier than Linux; NT is easy until you try and
correct something you forgot. Linux is daunting because you're expected to
know how to choose between different desktop environments (X? GNOME? KDE?),
and because you're asked about things the "ordinary" user should not have to
understand (which compiler? which programming tools? etc).
Well, don't knowing what particular distribution you're talking about,
from first hand knowledge I can tell, that a SuSE installation today
is an easy thing - even for users don't knowing (and don't want to
know) much about computers. SuSE comes with a (thick) book describing
all necessary steps to install the system including the more difficult
tasks. I don't know other distributions really, but guess they are
nearby.
In fact, I feel the people shipping distributions have a very *good* idea of
who's likely to be using the stuff - since Joe Sixpack doesn't know about
programming environments, compilers, or windowing managers, it's safe to
assume that Joe Sixpack is not the target market for the distributions.
That may have been true in the past. It's no longer today.
Some examples from first hand experience:
* About two years ago a friend of mine installed successfully a SuSE
distribution on his Windows computer. He described himself as a
"interested computer layman".
* About one year ago another friend of mine installed a SuSE
distribution on his computer. The funny thing is, that he asked me
to help him for some time. He finally bought a set of CDs and we
finally made an appointment three weeks later. One week later I got
an e-mail from him, written and sent from his freshly installed
GNU/Linux system... Well, he became a GNU/Linux enthusiast after
that so he may not be very typical (after all: How many people get
enthusiast for *anything* today...?).
* For some years now another friend of mine works with GNU/Linux which
for her means KDE / StarOffice / Netscape / Internet. I installed
the system on her laptop and configured her old computer to work as
a Internet gateway (it had an ISDN card which could be re-used this
way, connection was done by the available RS232 ports, a cable, and
PPP - would that have been possible with M$?). Since this time she
works very smoothly with the system, and it's far more reliable than
the Win95 she used before. She does not know much about computers
and doesn't want to (which BTW is perfectly ok with me).
So I'd conclude: The saying that for Joe Sixpack GNU/Linux is
impossible to install and use is a myth. IMHO it's just another
addition to the FUD campaigns directed against Free Software. However,
admittedly GNU/Linux is a fast moving target and to really hit it, you
need to have good and as current as possible knowledge.
I'd like to add another thought, we shortly found on the Oekonux list
(`http://www.oekonux.de/', the German list is still far more active
than the English counterpart): You can't have freedom without
difficulty / knowledge. If you want to be free, you have to decide
yourself, be responsible for your actions. This is done best on a
knowledge base and in most areas some knowledge is ultimately
necessary to be free at all. Even to have the simple freedom of choice
at least you need to know which choices are available.
Moreover the type of knowledge you gain has a direct impact on the
amount of freedom you will have. The more useful your knowledge is -
i.e. the more ways you can use with a given amount of knowledge - the
more free you are. A minimal example from the top of my head: A road
map combined with the knowledge how to read such a road map in general
is far more useful than the person telling you how to get from A to B.
However, it's more difficult to acquire the knowledge about reading
road maps and sometimes the right road map.
To me it looks as if the knowledge GNU/Linux is giving is more like
the road map and how to read it, while M$ at best tries to say people
how to get from A to B - sometimes even charging them for this tiny
little piece of information.
Given the complex world of today, I clearly don't want to have every
freedom I may have - there are areas in life I'm less interested in
than others. However, I like to have the possibility to have this
freedom if I do want to - at best free of charge and in a way I can
easily get what I want to learn about a certain area. Well, this may
be a personal habit but IMHO it's important when talking about
freedom.
So as a conclusion I'd say, that it is best to have clear paths which
make as little problems as possible to people who do not want to have
their freedom in that particular area. In the software area a good
basic configuration for the most important applications does exactly
this. From that it's best to have a wealth of options to learn the
knowledge you need to have exactly the amount of freedom you want. You
need the road maps (i.e. configuration files) as well as the ability
to read the maps. IMHO this must be the ultimate goal for everything -
be it technical, social, or whatever.
As a final thought I think something like this is more easy to achieve
in a profit-less environment like Free Software. After all M$ shows us
it's a good way to earn money to make a system (far) more difficult
than it need to be and at the same time making the knowledge difficult
to obtain - it possible at all. Free Software is well documented and
it gets better every day. And if nothing else helps: "Use the source,
Luke!" ;-).
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
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