> The main thing about Linux that is 'hard' is the fact that you have to
> use your brain and make choices: Which web browser? Which office suite?
> Which email client? Which desktop? Which Linux distro? For lots of
> people this is way too much work. I guess if these people looked at,
I think that you raise an important point here, but I would rather
relate it to a question of "education".
People simply don't know that there are alternatives, or that this
alternatives are manageable. They are not "educated" to consider the
OS and their software ecosystem as something that can be configured
and tweaked (I don't say that everybody should hack the kernel).
I am always puzzled when I talk to non technical people that, while
everybody knows what is an Excel spreadsheet, almost nobody knows
precisely what is a database. Or what are the roles and relationships
between CPU + memory + disk. Or how does a website work, etc. People
now spend their lives dealing with a DB, a computer or a website, and
it takes less than one hour to explain how they work! (I did it many
times and people are always very eager to know it)
We spend years learning how to read and write, but we could not spend
a few hours as kids learning what *is* a computer and what it can do?
(I don't talk about learning how to open a browser, download from
iTunes or fill a spreadsheet).
I really don't think that MS Windows or Mac or Ubuntu or CentOS are
better or less good for desktop in general (CentOS better suits my
personal needs). Same for iPhone vs. Blackberry vs. Android for mobile
devices.
When I discuss this with other people, I therefore don't try to
convince them, but I just want to make sure that they are aware of
which tradeoffs they are doing: versatility vs. security, nice design
vs. freeedom, works-out-of-the-box vs.
works-not-out-of-the-box-but-after-this-has-been-properly-configured-will-always-work-perfectly
(eh, eh, that's what I like with my CentOS desktop).
People are of course free to give up (some) freedom, I just wish they
would do it consciously.
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