Re: Five technologies you shouldn't bother looking out for in 2016
"It's Windows gives yer average user grief, not Linux."
Most of the users I've suggested Linux to have given up before they've managed to pick a distro. It usually goes like this:
User: I hate windows! It took forever to start up today because it was updating!
Me: Why not try Linux?
User: I googled 'download Linux' and all I got was a massive page with lots of paragraphs about 'choosing the right distro'. Why didn't it just download the installer for me?
Me: Ah. Um, basically, 'Linux' isn't just one thing. You see, without going into the politics of how open source development works, the middle bit of the OS is called the Linux Kernel, but lots of people then build their -
User: OH GOD NO I HATE THIS STUPID COMPLEX CRAP WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE SPEAK ENGLISH I'M STICKING WITH WINDOWS AT LEAST THAT WORKS.
Now imagine trying to take them through the idea of how to pick between GNOME vs KDE. This is someone who doesn't think of an OS as a collection of components. They think the GUI is the OS. They are not really interested in what a bootloader is, or whether they ought to be pro- or anti-systemd.
People complain that Microsoft have too many versions of Windows to pick from and it's too confusing when they release 5 different flavours of Windows 10. They do not want to wade through 50 different linux distros before they even know which one to download. That sucks, but it's the truth and it's a major reason why, no matter how user-friendly Linux becomes, it's never going to come close to matching Windows on the Desktop. The consumer-facing places where Linux does well (routers, mobile phones) are the places it comes pre-installed. The other places it does well are where IT professionals are making the decision.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
