GreyCloud wrote:

Stef wrote:
[snip]

You don't need to go to school or class to learn Linux. I didn't.
Completely self taught.

Some can and some can't. Just the shows the diversity of people.

Only a few can't. Those with low cognitive ability. But most can.
They just never try convinced that the subject matter is beyond them.


So, if I can do it, anyone can. If they
try. Most don't. Too much work. They want it easy.

Of course, if they have no desire to work a computer and just want to get it
done. Also, most don't have time to spare due to other pressing matters.

Our educational system (at least in the U.S.) pander to poor
students and teaching by rote instead of understanding concepts. This
philosophy affects good students badly as they aren't challenged
sufficiently. And actually never reach their full potential. Teaching
methods were similar when I was in school, but standards were a lot
higher, you were expected to do well, and were "held back" when you
didn't.

Spare time? People have plenty of spare time. They just don't use it
productively. They'd rather watch the latest installment of some inane
"reality" show on TV, or knock back more than a few at the
neighborhood pub every night. I double majored in college -- math and
physics -- and even though I attended classes 6 days a week for four
years, I still put myself through school working parttime during the
school year and full time summers. No scholarships or aid or loans. So,
"don't have enough time" doesn't cut it with me.


What do Windows people do when the wifi doesn't work? They call tech
support. A Linux user will find out why it doesn't work and fix it.


Sometimes that isn't as easy as it sounds. Depends on the computer.

Most times it is, regardless of the computer or OS.

Dell has tried to sell PCs with linux preinstalled and so has HP. Their
efforts were ignored by the public and soon the PCs were pulled from the
market place.

Linux (Ubuntu, I think) still available on Dells, and HPs, too.
Lenovos as well. They just make it hard to find on their web sites.
Probably due to pressure from Microsoft. But it's there.


Problem is, they aren't advertised on their front page.
I haven't seen a linux PC advertised at HP for a long time now.
Even more odd, HP owns OpenVMS, but never advertises it. You have to google
for it and it is on some obscure HP website.

Microsoft has lots of influence on manufactures. And MS wants Windows
on ALL computers. And so there won't be any anti-trust actions against
MS, Linux is an option. It's just buried. Most of the time with no
direct links on the web site itself to where it's offered. You have to
do a site search to find it, or make a phone call.

The real problem is computing stagnation. Even HPs CEO recognizes this
and
is trying to do something about this. Kind of reminds me of the 70s and
CP/M and S-100 boxes. That market stagnated as well. When IBM came out
with something new, the PC, the CP/M almost died overnight.

Microsoft and Windows have too much control over the market. That's
where the stagnation lies. Why improve when you have 90% of the market?

That's true, as I've heard that there is no incentive to make things better,
let alone fix all of the bugs. On the other hand, a paradox sits in front
of us... linux is given away free for the download, but still has the lowest
market share of desktop systems. I suppose it is because there are too many
distros out there and some aren't that good.

With over 300 Linux distros, I'm sure more than a few are dogs. But one
thing I've been seeing lately is specialization: a distro designed
specifically for a given task or group of tasks. For example, a distro
just to create a VPN or DNS or firewall. That's all it does, All
commandline. No GUI. Of course, you can do the same with any general
Linux distro, but these specific ones are quick and easy to get going.


The problem with Linux distros is that when they come out with a new version
they always introduce new bugs. I've seen some do distro hopping hoping to
find the best distro.

Some distros do; others don't. I use Debian whose releases have a
5 year life cycle. Over that time, it remains basically unchanged with
only bug and security fixes. Some distros have LTS -- Long Term
Support -- that go up to 7 years and remain virtually the same.
Then there are others Like Fedora who releases new versions every 6
months. Some distros are "rolling releases". that are constantly in a
state of flux, but they do have the latest of everything. So, they are
good for cutting edge hardware.

With Linux, at least, you have choice, lots of choice, to fit your
needs.

Stef