A.P. Lawrence

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CommentsBlog1196 :

---December 18, 2004

The Linux desktop is getting fairly close to being user freindly. They have a fairly consistance and unified user interface when you keep within either the Gnome or KDE enviroments.

It's safer then Windows. Viruses, spyware, and worms for the most part are nonexistant problems. (anything can change though.)

For instance with Gnome 2.8 I have good Mime detection. I download a media file, double click on it, and it plays. I want to install a program? If run Debian, and use Synaptic (apt-get GUI front end) and have several thousand programs to choose from, all put in their particular catagory.

I take a camera, install plug it into the USB port, and it prompts me for syncing my photos.

The problem is obtaining Linux right now, and setting it up initially. Not very many places you can buy computers with Linux pre-installed, and most of those are linspire. Very few stores you take your computer to to get fixed know linux. Very few places you call into for support support Linux. Installing Linux on computers yourself ranges from simplier then Windows to unholy hell depending on what makes up that computer.

One of the major things that makes Linux cheaper then Apples (the x86 platform vs Mac computers) is also one of the major stumbling blocks to overcome. (Macs have a few hundred hardware combos to support, Linux has a few hundred billion different hardware combos to support) Linux on grandma's desktop just isn't going to happen without active OEM support.

Same old story.

If you want a good taste of a Desktop setup with Gnome 2.8, check out Ubuntu Linux. It's basicly Debian with a freindly installer and X.org server.
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/

That'll give you a decent taste of were linux on the desktop is. That and Fedora Core3.

If you want a decent Linux magazine check out linuxjournal. It's fairly nicely oriented somewere between Geek and Developer. Usefull for checking out new peices of technology and general linux developements and pro-linux "this place now uses linux, and we interviewed them" type stories. Not so much for a sysadmin.

--Drag

---December 18, 2004

I don't disagree, but the question is are there a lot of "ordinary" Linux users - those who really need user-friendly - at this time? I don't think there are that many, yet, but I'd like to be wrong.

--TonyLawrence


--December 18, 2004

There are a few, probably mostly people that use it for business right now. Magazines are getting more and more specialized, towards nitch groups. Like the same company will have 4 or 5 car magazines with slightly different focuses.

I'd bet you that most of the editors/writers use Windows or Macs though! I don't expect it to be a very good magazine. (if they do a good job, though it could end up being a great resource for new users.)

And this wouldn't be the first magazine of it's type. Once I bought one based out of the UK that concentrated on desktop user's experiance. (it wasn't realy that good, either. I bought it because it had a free trial version of Sun's Java desktop live-cdrom. First Linux I've used that has a EULA)

--Drag



---December 20, 2004

I just ordered Xandros Desktop Linux 3.0, which is a debian based distro. According to reviews, it looks like one of the easiest Linux desktop distros out of the box. The latest version has had some nice reviews, and I am looking forward to trialing it. I am attempting to switch a couple of longtime Windows users over to Linux, since they are fed up with spyware, adware, viruses, etc. I tell them I never have to deal with this stuff, since I run Linux. Although Linux has been ready for the desktop for me for several years now, it has not been easy for the average PC user.

It looks like Xandros may have the ease of use, by a hacked up KDE version that has a filemanager similar to Windows. One of the hardest things when switching people from Windows to Linux, is explaining the filesystem and partition layout. I am hoping that Xandros will have a file manager that will hide things as much as possible, to make the new user comfortable.

I have also read that one of the new features of Xandros 3, is that since it is based on Debian, it is now possible to use apt-get to grab regular Debian packages from their repository. This was not possible in previous versions, so if there was an app. you needed for Xandros, for which no binary was available, you would have to compile from source. That certainly would scare away most Windows users.

When I show people how easy it is to install or update software on Linux with 'yum' or 'apt-get' they look very impressed. No Wizards, or questions about where to install things. It just works!

Here's a link to a recent review of Xandros 3:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1738495,00.asp

--BruceGarlock


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