Re: LUCI: Linux Newbie Meeting Tuesday 1/10

["Bryan J. Smith" <b.j.smith@ieee.org>]

On Tue, 2006-01-10 at 00:26 -0600, Danny Sauer wrote:
> It stopped me from locally installing on a P100 with 16MB RAM (until I
> took the drive out and mounted it in another machine)... ;)

Windows is not defined by its installer.
Unfortunately, that's 99% of what Linux reviews focus on.

So what's the best distro for a newbie?

My answer ...

   It's the same distro that someone else who is already using
   their computers for the same reasons as the newbie.

I.e., pair new people up with those seasoned Linux users who are doing
the same things they are, especially from the same industry/usage.

They will:

A)  Get someone who best knows their needs/lingo

[ As my friend Brian Ashe fondly says, "people don't use OSes, they use
apps." 

B)  Someone who has already fought most of their issues,

[ Again, requote Brian Ashe here too ]

C)  They will get the best tech support for that distro

[ Because, again, they've got someone who is already using Linux for the
same apps as them, on the same distro as them. ]

After the new user gets more familiar with Linux, they can always come
back to looking at different distributions.  The big issue is getting
them working on Linux _now_ -- _not_ just installing it.  There's
nothing more enfuriating for a newbie to keep re-installing different
Linux distros in the hope it will "be the one they want" (which is a
rather skewed/ignorant viewpoint, because they are probably looking for
what they're used to -- Windows! ;-) and not actually using it.

And _always_ remember that Freedomware (Open Standards via Open Source)
software _is_ available for Windows should they not be prepared to
switch yet.  It's always nice to see people jump into Linux, but if they
aren't going to use it, it's better to see them on Windows creating all
_new_ documents in a format they can better edit on Linux at a latter
time.
 

-- 
Bryan J. Smith   mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org
http://thebs413.blogspot.com
------------------------------------------
Some things (or athletes) money can't buy.
For everything else there's "ManningCard."



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