[SATLUG] Alternative to Microsoft

[Jesika]

On Wed, 2002-09-18 at 06:51, clickdoug wrote:
> Prediction:    Linux integration on the desktop will always be limited in
> that it requires a geek to install, setup and maintain.

I disagree.  My mother, who doesn't have a technical bone in her body,
can and has installed Mandrake.  I'm certain that if I turned her loose
with SuSE, she could do the same.  There are many different flavours of
Linux available, which target many different markets.  My distro of
choice, Slackware, would leave her scratching her head from the minute
she put in the cd.  SuSE or Mandrake, however, target the home user, and
have pretty GUI interfaces, which walk the user through the installation
process in a very user-friendly method.  The latest SuSE install was the
easiest I've seen yet, offering default partitioning, default package
options, and onscreen diversions during install.

My mother still doesn't know how to use a shell.  She uses nice pretty
KDE, where she can click on her folders and programs.  KOffice allows
her to do her school work.  She did need help setting up her printer,
but she couldn't get that set up in Windows, either.  I admit, that's
much harder to do in Linux, and is one area that could still use some
work if M$ replacement is the goal.  Still, I don't think she's doing
half bad.  

Maintenance?  Admittedly, non-geeks aren't big on system maintenance. 
When her M$ system update icon came up, she would cancel it out, because
it was inconvenient and interfered with other things she was doing.  The
only time her system got maintenance was when she upgraded to a new OS. 
That is likely to be a continuing trend.  The difference is that Linux
will be a little more forgiving of that trend.  She won't see the
sluggishness that she had from not defragging regularly, and she won't
have to worry constantly about losing everything on her system to this
week's virus du jour.

So, I don't think we're quite there *yet*, but I would definitely have
to go against your prediction.

Jesika

-- 
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
GIT d-- s-:s+ a- c+++ UBLS++++ P- L++++ !E W N- !o ?K 
!w O M- V PS+ PE Y+ PGP++ t++ 5 X R-- tv+ b++ DI++++ D 
G e* h- r+++ x+++++ 
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------