Mustafa Qasim wrote:
Salam!
I want to ask all you folks there that we can see the current
advancements in Fedora and Ubunto distros. They've came onto screen as
an OS not only for server's operated by GEEKS but also a much secure and
user friendly OS for home users but still a large amount of our home
user's are still stick with XP(especially here in Pakistan) . Do we need
to create awareness at root grass level? Is it due to the
Installation,configuring softwares and migrating data or other smiler
issues that are the giant hurdle for home users? A XP user is still
satisfied with Spyware,Trojan,dialer,virus an many other attacks but he
didn't dare or didn't have enough guidance to get rid of it by using Linux.
I've tried to talk with my some friends about these issues but at the
end i came to know that they didn't need to listen the philosophy of
FOSS they just want me to practically prove that Linux is much easier
and secure then Windows. For them installing software from source or
concept of mounting a block device is much difficult because they didn't
have to do this in M$ XP :p.
"What" and more importantly "How" we individuals can serve to make our
people at root grass level aware about the weakness and black holes of
their existing platform and the advantages of Linux over M$ XP?
Regards,
--
Mustafa Qasim
Lahore, Pakistan
Cell: 0321-6614972
URL: http://www.mustu.info <http://www.mustu.info>
I have to respond to this from a home and work user.
I have not owned or used a version of Windows since 3.11 at home. Even
then it was secondary to OS/2. Since 1999, it has been Linux only in
our house.
The biggest issue at work is proprietary file formats. Most of the
programs to work with these files work well in Wine.
And Exchange server. Evolution over Outlook Web Access is a real pain.
Of course many users that used Thunderbird/Mozilla/Netscape before
also complain about Outlook as well. Personal preference.
At home, it is games and 3D video drivers.
Now for the forward looking aspect I look at my daughter. She hasn't
really used Windows on any system but has heard my wife and I talk about
all our problems. She uses a eMac at school has had nothing but
problems. She wants a Linux laptop for school.
This points me to the education of the users. Get the kids using Linux
and you will find that it will grow in both home and business usage. As
long as they can play their games and communicate with their peers.
Now for the complaints. 3D graphics. At present, this issue isn't
limited to Linux but Windows Vista as well. There are driver issues on
both systems, just less work being done on the Linux side. I have not
had as many problems with lockups and crashes since I installed FC7 on a
machine that was running very well with FC4. I am in trouble with both
my wife and daughter. At least I have not tried upgrading the laptop yet.
Linux in the home needs to have solid drivers to support graphics. This
is the biggest frustration. As I gather data, I will submit information
to trace the problem but that can be a pain as well. Bug reports that
cover outside or other applications can be brushed off. When you see
"Not a Bug" or "Closed, Won't fix" in a bug report that is affecting
your usage of the OS, doesn't bode well for continued usage. Also the
fact that some distros modify the code for their distro that can cause
problems with plug-ins or remove features from the original.
Contrary to others comments, I find OpenOffice works well in our
business location. I have been able to open Word documents that others
cannot. I have been able to recover files that caused Word to crash.
Others are finding that there are tools in OpenOffice that are not in
Word which help them be more productive.
The biggest complaint that I read in both the press (linux based) and
hear is the difference in packaging. I need an rpm for this or that.
Use Apt in this version or Yum in that version. This creates a headache
for developers that want to share their work. What distros do they
support? I have seen enough that don't support Fedora to direct me to
look at making my own RPM's. Now to find the time. :)
And as others have stated, support for Dominant protocols as well as
codex issues. Again, the difference between different distros, makes
this harder to solve from either the developers.
We need standards across all versions and distros of Linux or a tool to
convert apt files to rpm and vice-versa.
My daughter likes Linux and I am starting to teach her how to admin the
systems. Now is the time to start using sudo. :)
--
Due to the move to Exchange Server,
anything that is a priority, please phone.
Robin Laing
