I’ve toyed with Linux since 2002, when I first installed Mandrake. With the latest release of Ubuntu, I was interested to see how far Linux had come since then in terms of being used easily by the mainstream. So, I tricked my grudging girlfriend Erin into sitting down at a brand new Ubuntu 8.04 installation and performing some basic tasks. It’s surprising how many seemingly simple things become complicated and even out of reach for someone without a knowledge of Linux. There are a lot of little things that could be done to make the experience a lot more friendly for non-computer-literate people – some of them easy to implement, others not at all.
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Dark Star
15 years 51 weeks 12 hours 8 min ago
Worthless Try !
A bit on the higher side :| The article is exaggerated and her explanation is a bit n00bish like search should have option of whole computer instead of filesystem :lol: ...But I loved her conclusion ..
[QUOTE]
I’d love to see a welcome screen for the first time you open up your desktop, with little videos explaining a few key concepts to how Linux and Ubuntu work. Maybe it could ask “What do you want to do?” and then explain how they could do this.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]I don’t understand why GIMP doesn’t just layout its windows like photoshop does.[/QUOTE]
Just 1 question ? Why on this earth people want to experience the same thing every time :S Though I agree Gimp interface is not intuitive as of PS ,but if she could manage to get her mind working even for 1 sec she could have mastered Gimp , considering she is claimed PS expert :|
[B]Edit : [/B][QUOTE]I presumed that she was looking for some kind of Limewire equivalent. Erin has downloaded music using uTorrent before in Windows, so she went and got utorrent.exe from their website. It downloaded, and she double clicked it. It asked her if she wanted to open it with an application, and, confused, she tried to open the executable with itself.[/QUOTE]
Would you ever run a .exe file in Mac or Sun Solaris.. Why people do not have presece of mind :| .exe ,directX, MS oriented products are MS and Windwos Xclusive and Utorrent site clearly states that its for Windows.. and if she is so interested in d.l music she could have opened the LimeWire site and download the .deb for Ubuntu :) Just double click and install..I would say lack of knowledge .. If she had used Windwos for so long then she must know that programs like utorrent, MS office are made only for Windows :|
In the end I would just say that I would rather read a kids review who has some presence of mind rather than wasting my time reading worthless review like the 1 posted by a junked headed person :|
Here are some nonsense and idiotic statement by the author.. Though you can find bunch of 'em..
[QUOTE]1. I don’t understand why there isn’t a program like KDE’s KPaint for Gnome/Ubuntu
2. Erin has downloaded music using uTorrent before in Windows, so she went and got utorrent.exe from their website. It downloaded, and she double clicked it. It asked her if she wanted to open it with an application, and, confused, she tried to open the executable with itself.
3.I don’t understand why GIMP doesn’t just layout its windows like photoshop does. It wouldn’t lose usability, surely, and it would help the transition of first-time-users immensely.
4. Because Erin’s only experience with IM clients has been the official MSN ones, she didn’t understand what a multi-protocol one could do. She thought that “adding” an account was creating a new one on the network. Also, she understandably didn’t know what “AIM” was, p [Man she is pathetic.. she didn't knew what AIM is :|]
5. She installed skype and she didn't knew where to search for an installed application :rofl: [OMFG! Man where did you search for installed applications in My Document or in Main Menu :|]
[/QUOTE]
Her comments made me think just 1 thing ? Can she even handle Windows ? Man she is even more pathetic than my Mom's Secretary :rofl:
hcd000
15 years 51 weeks 2 hours 33 min ago
I had a different experience...
My wife (a nurse with little interest in computers) was an XP user for a few years, until I asked her to try Ubuntu for her email, IM, and web.
We talked up front about how every system works differently (not necessarily better or worse), and that there would certainly be some sense of adjustment.
I asked her to commit to using Ubuntu for a while -- not just to give feedback about how XP does xyz differently or better or worse -- and we resolved most of what stumped her with some simple dialogue.
She's a willing Ubuntu user now, and she thinks it's a superior OS (AND she has no idea what a command line or a kernel is - score!). I think what was important was being realistic that the switch would not be trivial, and that it would require effort. It turned out to be a lot easier than we thought, though. :)