Re: Will you recommend fedora to a newcomer?

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Thanks Anthony.

I must admit I had omitted to mention live distros as well.  It is the
ideal way to test drive some distros before installing one.  You have
users who are willing to try something different (Linux) so you are
ahead of the curve.  At home if my wife walks up to the computer and
it's booted to Linux she calls me right away asking how to "get out of
this stupid thing" (please forgive her ignorance...).  Generally it's
just to surf, so I've tried to convince her to fire up FF rather than
rebooting, but no way.  Actually even when in Windows if I have FF
open, she closes it and goes to IE (partially because of the GUI
differences, partially because that's where her "favourites" are -
slight difference in terminology can throw non-technical people for a
loop real quick - such as panel vs taskbar or start menu).  She is as
non-technical as they get.  Your typical end user.  They have their
comfort zone and don't wish to leave it, even for a promise of
something more secure.  Because for many users security is an after
thought (unfortunately that's the case for some businesses as well). 
Useability is the primary criteria.  If they aren't using FF yet,
would be a good idea to get them onto that within Windows so at least
that will be a familiar environment when they change over.  Likewise
have them go grab Open Office for Windows, gaim for Windows for their
IM sessions, the Gimp for Windows.  Immerse them into as much of a
common environment as possible before the change over if this is
something that won't be happening for a little while (i.e. maybe when
purchasing a new PC later this Spring or whatever the case is for
them).  If the change over is to happen right away, still wouldn't be
bad to have those apps on the Windows side as well.

So get them into a useable distro based on their needs.  Later on
maybe you can convert them to becoming power users and maybe trying
other distros.  Just remember, you are ahead of the curve with these
people.  You don't want to provide them with an experience that will
cause them to turn around and go back to Windows exclusively.

On a side note in relation to some of the replies to my earlier
posting, I did note the insecurities of MS Windows vs Linux, but only
in passing as it was not the focal point of the discussion (yes auto
install of plugins is dangerous, I thought it was obvious that I was
alluding to that).  As for user friendliness of MS Windows vs Linux,
well in media training they tell you to admit the obvious (if your
company obviously screwed something up, don't try and deny it as it
will only hurt your credibility).  The obvious as it comes to user
friendliness is MS Windows is more user friendly than Linux (for the
masses - remember we are talking about the masses who've grown up on
Windows).  And yes there are bad programmers in Windows.  But there
are also good ones (same applies to Linux and all other environments).
 We are really straying from the original topic with that discussion.

As was suggested by some, live distros Leon.  Good way to see which
environment they prefer and which one is the most intuitive to them. 
Personally I really like SuSe 10 live environment (but I learned Linux
on a course where we used RH9 so I stuck with FC - comfort zone, it's
all about comfort zone - but I know I'll be eventually dual booting to
SuSe and other distros as well).  I know there are efforts to have FC
as a live environment.  But not sure how polished it is yet.

Thanks,

Jacques B.


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