darxus | Why aren't you running Linux?

It's a sincere question. I'm curious what I can do to help reduce dependence on closed operating systems.

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with not running Linux, I understand it's not best for everybody. I'm just curious about making it best for more people.

Ubuntu is the most user friendly Linux distribution. It's also the one I use for both desktops and servers. You can download and burn a CD image, and boot into it off the CD without installing, to try it out without installing it. It is very slow that way, because CD drives are slower than hard drives, and everything in the image needs to be decompressed as it's read.

cathijosephine did the install herself when Windows etc. got too slow on her computer.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ (CD image link is right at the top - download.)

Let me know if you would like me to burn an install CD for you or look over your shoulder while you install.

Freeing up hard drive space under Windows and then repartitioning it for Linux will probably be the hardest part.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a new OS, therefore it has a learning curve. Even switching to a new Windows is a learning curve, one that I've avoided for as long as possible every time they've "updated" the damn thing (I took both Ubuntu and Windows 7 then-Beta off my lil' Acer when I got it for just that reason). I know the conceits, I know where everything is. Because the simple truth is "obvious" never is to someone who hasn't used it before. I'm entirely not interested in spending a hour swapping my OS, then several days figuring out how to run my games and make my speakers work and figure out how much battery life my lil' Acer has left and get my lil' Acer to talk to my Zune.

I am not a computer geek, I don't give a flying fuck about knowing these things as some sort of personal edification, I just want to play games and listen to podcasts/music and futz around on the internet. I know I can do that with Windows; I have no assurance that I'll be able to do it with anything else without considerable output. I won't take your word for it because you are a computer geek, your perception of what's easy and obvious are unlikely to match mine, particularly not when you have an axe to grind.

Why was that so harsh?

You're right, the Zune is probably enough reason for you to stick to Windows. That happens when you buy hardware made by a major operating system company that wants you dependant on their operating system. Non-standard undocumented interface that nobody else can support.

Games you have under Windows are also unlikely to work. The games that are available are easy to find, and your sound will just work. And there's automatically a little icon in the top right corner that shows your remaining battery life.

Playing games and listening to podcasts/music and futzing around on the internet is just as easy under Linux. As long as those games aren't only available for Windows.

I never hoped you'd take my word for it. And I never suggested you install Ubuntu. I suggested you boot off the live CD without modifying your computer so you could see for yourself what it's like.

I've been thinking about why the approach in this post pissed me off, and I think I can sum it up in one word: evangelism. It wasn't "Hey, they made Ubuntu easy to try out! I highly recommend it." It was "Stop using your evil OS (here's evidence of how it's evil) and switch to the One True OS, you'll be happier and the world will be a better place!" That's going to work with some people, but most of the people you're reaching out to are allergic to evangelism (part of our immunity to marketing) and will break out in swear words.

Thanks. I did try to avoid evangelizing, because I'm aware of the long history of that not working. But I can see how it would have been better to just not mention my reasons. The fact that so much of the spam comes from people's Windows computers without their knowledge has just been freaking me out lately. Also, the likelihood of people assuming that it's not their computer.

I also very recently learned why Microsoft's .NET programming language was created. Sun created the language Java. It is very popular, due partially to how portable it is - you write one program in Java, and it runs on everything everywhere: Windows, Mac, Linux, several you haven't heard of, and phones.

So Microsoft released development libraries (to make it easier to write some programs) that only worked with Windows. So suddenly people are, without thinking about it, writing Java programs that only work under Windows. And their users are now dependant on Windows for those applications.

Fortunately, this violated Microsoft's license with the creators of Java, and they put an end to that. And Microsoft stopped including Java in the default Windows install.

So Microsoft created .NET. And it has become a popular language because it's easy, and now people are more dependant on Microsoft. In particular, companies writing their own in house software are now significantly more tied to this one operating system.

The operating system most famous for instability and vulnerability to attack (viruses, etc.).

Germany and France recently asked people to stop using Internet Explorer. Homeland Security did the same in 2004.

Using Microsoft just because you haven't taken an hour to see how well the Ubuntu live CD works for you really seems irresponsible to me. And I think a lot of people do it. (I've acknowledged you have additional reasons.)

I'm really curious how much of the above sounds like rational reasons to hate Microsoft to you. I'm aware my perspective... is not representative of Windows users.

I removed the Windows stuff from the post. Did I get everything that upset you?

No, no, you took out a word but you left in the underlying concept, that doesn't help. In particular that second sentence is still very problematic. You can tell by the use of the word "dependence" - that is a very negative term in our culture, which has "independence" as a core value. You try to backpedal after that second sentence, but if you just took it out altogether you wouldn't need to do that - if you don't tell someone they're broken then you don't need to explain that it's OK to be broken (which sounds patronizing as all hell - I am not a dog that needs to be fixed, I am a human being who deserves respect for her choices even when they're different from yours).

I think part of what's going on is what you'd say amongst fellow Linux fanatics needs to be different than what you say when talking to others. Your original post was fine if everyone agrees that using an OS other than Linux is Wrong and Bad, but the moment someone who sees nothing wrong with Windows walks in (or rather, nothing wrong enough to stop using Windows - the very people you're trying to reach) you've got a problem. How would you feel if someone told you polyamory is Wrong and Bad and they've got a way to make monogamy easy and fun so why don't you try it? You want to avoid that issue altogether if possible, and the whole point of having an easy distro is you *can* avoid it - don't even mention Windows, especially if you can't do so without a sneer. Just sell Ubuntu on its own merits and call it a day.

Oh, one more thing: I suggest putting the question at the end of the post rather than the beginning, if you want to put it in there at all. If you ask me a question I will be thinking about my answer which distracts me from what you're saying, especially if it's an essay question. Also, that question gets me thinking about the reason(s) I'm not doing something, when you want me to be thinking that I ought to be doing that something. Actually, thinking further, this should be two posts: the first is the question (and *don't* argue against any of the points people make in reply to their comments - you want to know what's going on it people's heads at this stage) and the second is about how awesome that distro is and how it addresses people's concerns (this is where you correct those misconceptions you wanted so hard to argue against in the first post ;).

You know who is really good at this sort of thing? Marketers. It's sad that they're the ones paying attention to persuasive psychology, but they've gotten really good at it. Make friends with a few and ask *them* how to go about it.

Why aren't you running Linux?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject