The future of linux

[NKavanagh at psgroup.com (Niall Kavanagh)]

> 1) ease of installation:  Did she install Windows?

For the "moms" and "grandparents" this point is moot. Installing Linux can
be just as easy if not easier than installing windows (though I have to
admit, Windows 2000 and Windows Millennium are a breath of fresh air
compared to NT/98/95 during the installation process). Most of these people
will not install any OS. The only thing keeping them from Linux is the fact
that most computer resellers are just now hopping on the Linux bandwagon and
offering it as an option. Unfortunately, most are not offering it as an
option to home users, just "power" users. In my opinion, this is a good
thing right now... read on...

>2) ease of maintenance:  What maintanence?  Once she's got an account,
> and you've set up her printer (did she set up her own printer on
> Windows?), what does she need to maintain to run e-mail and WP? 

Not much at all if it's all setup. Unfortunately, the desktop software for
Linux is nowhere near Windows level functionality just yet. We can hope that
Corel will help address this in the future, but RIGHT NOW there are no
integrated office suites available for Linux that offer the features you can
get on a windows platform. I'm talking about wizards, office assistants,
drag and drop that works with all applications, shared clipboards etc. Some
of these things we find abhorrent (as power users we shudder at the thought
of a paper clip showing us how to compose an email), but are indeed valued
features for your grandma.

Printing is another area where the Linux desktop is left lacking. Do all
your desktop applications use the same drivers, or are some text, some
postscript, some (whatever gnome uses) ... etc? There's no "standard"
printer drivers just yet. Again, something that is being worked on but isn't
there yet. Your grandmother wants to be able to drag and drop, have her hand
held, and use the same dialogs and instructions for printing in every
application.

> 3) everyday use: The user interface for KDE/Gnome is almost identical to
> Windows, from an every-day use perspective.  Once the apps are
> installed (which also really isn't that hard), what's the hard part there?

In this area I'd say we (Linux users) are AHEAD of Windows. Just about ANY
window manager these days can and is more friendly than Window's explorer
shell, and all are FAR more customizable. With Gnome and KDE growing by
leaps and bounds we have a huge influx of new applications that share the
same "look and feel", something essential to new users who don't have the
time or patience to learn a new interface for every application. The reason
we're excelling here is that these efforts are new and fresh, and sticking
to standards is one of the most important goals application authors have in
mind when they code for Gnome/KDE. Look at any new Windows application -
They're "skinnable" and look cool, but don't stand a fart in the wind's
chance of meeting any usability standards (look at Apple's new QuickTime
interface; sure it looks purty, but it makes no damn sense!)

>I'm not just trying to be argumentative here, I'm really looking for
>answers.  I keep hearing these statements being made, but no one has
>presented a plausible argument to back them up, so far.  If you have one,
>I want to hear it, so that maybe I can help work on a fix.

Printing, office applications, and perhaps a better linuxconf are IMO the
biggest hurdles we have to get past. And we're getting there! Look how far
Gnome has come in the last year or so, and then look at the Windows
interface. Windows hasn't changed much at all except to add eye-candy, and
the applications are getting worse in terms of usability. We now have
distributions that are solely intended for the desktop (Corel, Caldera)...
we'll get there!

We're just not there yet. (tm)

--
Niall Kavanagh
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