__/ [ The Ghost In The Machine ] on Wednesday 07 June 2006 16:00 \__
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
> <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote
> on Wed, 07 Jun 2006 06:37:37 +0100
> <2173100.9FQqlZ0JCV@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>> In the Linux comfort zone...
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Windows XP. Riiigggghhhtt. It's okay, I think to myself. I can do this.
>> | I've used all the Windows versions since 3.1. I tentatively peer at the
>> | screen. It doesn't feel very friendly. I point and click on the Internet
>> | Explorer icon. It's slow loading - I start imagining all the filthy
>> | little viruses I could potentially be contracting and I feel like
>> | washing my metaphorical hands. IE loads up and I want to load all my
>> | regular web pages so I can be in touch with the outside world... and I
>> | can't open tabs. Where is my firefox? Where are my friendly little
>> | icons? Where are all the bits I just know how to do? Where?
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/node/1587
>
> The context of this article is a woman visiting her
> mother, and trying Mom's laptop while staying there
> for a couple of weeks. The ending is interesting:
>
> "No." Insists my mother. "You don't understand, Bridget, that the
> major problem free software advocates have to combat is the inertia
> of people like me," she'll announce smugly. "People who KNOW free
> software is an excellent alternative. But just don't want to change.
> Because we have to learn a whole new system."
>
> What she doesn't get is that I feel the same when I have to use her
> computer. It's all about what you're used to. I was used to Windows.
> Now I'm used to Ubuntu (and it really didn't take long!) and I find
> using Windows very tiring. Even if there weren't all the cons about
> using Windows, I wouldn't change back. I have the same inertia as my
> mother, but in the opposite direction. And so we've been at this
> impasse for some time.
>
> So really, we all just need to hop out of our comfort zones and try
> something new. When I get there this time, I've decided to install
> Firefox, just casually, and leave it there... who knows, she might
> even learn to love it like I do.
>
> One can hope. :-)
I posted a link to this article because the scenario very much resembles
every vacation when I travel to see family and relatives. This, as a matter
of fact, might be a decent reason for to me buy another laptop and install
Linux on it (I gave one away in September).
I used to be using Live CD's in my parent's house, but it's just not
responsive enough to be more appleaing than Windows XP, productivity-wise.
My parents now use Thunderbird and Firefox. So we're getting there slowly...
Over time I install more and more software that they become accustomed to
(and I can use while I'm there, of course). I can tweak that software and
further customise it for them, demonstrating that they can use it more
efficiently. I wonder how they feel about Web browsers without tabs, for
example, having used Firefox....
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | #00ff00 Day - Basket Case
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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