[nzlug] Dell are sooo pwn3d

[Simon]

On Mon, 2007-07-02 at 14:37 +1200, Denise Bates wrote:
> * Many of the people that I have encountered who have tried a free 
> Ubuntu CD don't really have a concept of what a distro is: They 
> insert a Ubuntu CD and assume that it _is_ "generic" Linux.
> * I am embarrassed when these people tell me that this "generic" 
> Linux thingee that they have been playing with is a load of s**t 
> (implying that I, as a Linux user, must be crazy to persist with it).
hah! I know what you mean... there is a strong tendancy for people to
think they are trying "linux" without realising that they are trying a
brand-name product. Then all distros get tarred by the same brush when
they don't like it.

An encounter like that I've had, for eg, was with someone who had tried
an install of mandrake 9-something (out of date at the time) for a few
months and went back to windows, annoyed.

The discussion showed the kinds of misunderstandings that we are
familiar with.

Curiously... I showed him DSL (I know... but it was what I had on me)
and he actually liked it. There,s really no telling what a given user
will fall in love with. I think it is misleading to insist on a windows
interface for the comfort zone. Most people *I* talk to want to know why
they shouldn't just use the windows they already have. They observe "but
it's just the same as windows" and want to know, basically, product
differentiation.

This (generalising) is especially notable with live CDs ... but the
distro matters not. I've seen this effect with slax, mandriva one and
elive. (elive being especially ironic as it was never intended to be a
stable distro).

I don't think we are seeing any distro promoted as the generic. Quite
the opposite: maintainers are keen to emphasise how non-generic they
are. Trouble is that consumers will generalise anyway. The same people
wouldn't judge all cars by the Ford they first drove... but they did
expect Aero on Vista basic, they did expect "vista ready" to be the same
as "vista ultimate ready". They are not used to differentiating OS's
like they do cars (though they do differentiate HW brands).

This is where empowering the user comes in. When someone wants to try
"linux"... we should not just throw them a disk and go "there you are".
We need to say: "try this one then, it's "MaxLinux 2.3m", see how you
go, and we'll see what we can do for you".

i.e. we need to communicate that they may not like it and that there's
an alternative that is always linux. When I have used this approach, I
find I get questions back: "But it is linux right?" etc... and so I can
supply the answers without preaching.

Of course, most of us are doing that already.

Anyone showing up to installfests will get that message. If they read
the magazine their DVD comes in... there too. My experience is that the
misunderstandings come when someone gets the disk (and cursory
instructions) off a friend of a friend.


Some concrete examples...
The physics dept of UA installed RH7.2 to the senior lab machines
without telling anyone. That was interesting... and lead to a definite
split: those who realised and took advantage of it and those that used
win4lin without noticing. Of course... these are high performers, and
science geeks to boot, but there's one example.

As you can imagine, this was not a resounding success. The move was
mostly a response to a sudden increase in the MS licence fee. When the
fee came down, back came windows. (However, the office now uses macs.)

...

UA-ECE via UALUG has been running tutorials to familiarise students with
BASH. These tutorials have attracted people other than students who want
to learn more about Ubuntu - which runs many of the ECE computers in the
labs and on student laptops. There have also been installfests to
support the move.

The reaction of students to Ubuntu is fairly uniform. 

As expected, they need to realise that it is "Ubuntu" not "Linux". This
has never been represented otherwise, it is just that they are not used
to thinking this way.

They are struck by the different-ness of the desktop and need a bit of
handholding. However, once they have played with the furniture a bit,
enthusiasm soon picks up. In fact, stopping them playing and directing
them to the actual lesson is quite difficult.

A few are annoyed that they have to learn to use ubuntu for their
course. I think it is about 5% so far. At the other extreme are people
who show up because they were passing in the corridor and saw all the
orange screens... these people are almost always converts and ask for a
CD, want to discuss how to install to their hardware.

These courses have been quite good for advocating linux as well as
ubuntu, largely by avoiding a preachy tone. Quietly introducing the
differences seems to be enough. ECE now has at least one room full
(about 40 PCs) of default ubuntu machines.

At installfests it is unusual for ubuntu to even install. These people
have tried already. Attendees are then exposed to a wide range of
distros. Attendees seem to want to install and get out though. But,
again, quietly showing the desktop furniture off gets a small interest.
Go over common misconceptions and point them at some websites. They're
fine.

Interestingly, KDE is a bit harder ... at first glance it seems to so
much like windows that users don't feel they need an intro. And then
they get lost because the menus are different. Not everyone experiences
this. And it is not a lot harder.

The more different the desktop, the more likely the new user is to ask
questions.

....

However: it is a bad idea to generalise from personal experience.

We are going to see people unhappy with ubuntu and blaming linux,
unfairly or otherwise. This will, for now anyway, occur most often with
ubuntu. This is the price of ubuntus high profile. But I hve yet to see
anyone promoting ubuntu, even by implication, as the generic linux.

Users need to be empowered to make these distinctions.