Re: Experience the New Windows

[Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote:

> The old "more bang for my buck" thing.  Given the same system spec,
> linux beats windows any day.  That's something a linux user can
> proudly proclaim, without being accused of exxageration.

Linux does not necessarily have to run faster to to run better. But then
"better" is a relative thing - to many people, "better" is interpreted as
"more familiar", "more apps", "better games", "good telephony" and the
usual arguments.

Unfortunately, given the current state of people's view of things, "more
bang for my buck" is another argument that won't hold water with the
majority of home-PC owners. They are usually *not* techies, and continue
to see Linux as a sort of "elitist or rebel" kind of thing that they are
not necessarily interested in.

In many ways, I think that much of the marketing for products like Windows
XP is done by the Linux community itself - because when someone says "no,
you can't do xyz under Linux *yet*, but if you could, you could do it
better". This does not hold water with people who can do it *now* under
Windows.

It will take a lot more than blind Linux advocacy to get Linux to be a
major player in the home PC market where people are running machines that
are *fast*, even under Windows.

On Wed, 21 Feb 2001, Mithun Bhattacharya wrote:

> I did say GnoRPM and dselect ??? I believe there are more graphical
> package managers but these two are widely used and they "are" actually
> pretty user friendly..

They are closer to the Windows experience, yes. But again, this is not
something that will decide things for people who are used to shoving in a
CD, answering a few questions, watching the install, and being able to
play the game a minute later.

Don't misunderstand me - I am not trying to beat down on Linux. On the
server front, Linux has Windows licked good and proper, and that battle is
more or less over.

Even on the office desktop, Linux now makes a lot of sense, and can be
used as a straight replacement for Windows 98/NTWS/2000, with most
app-requirements covered.

But Linux does not currently have anything that would entice a non-techie
Windows XP user at home. This is something that badly needs addressing,
and *not* through _advocacy_.

Atul

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