“If there is a single complaint that is laid at the feet of Linux time and time again, it’s that the operating system is too complicated and arcane for casual computer users to tolerate. You can’t ask newbies to install device drivers or recompile the kernel, naysayers argue.

Of course, many of those criticisms date back to the bad old days, but Ubuntu, the user-friendly distribution sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth’s Canonical Ltd., has made a mission out of dispelling such complaints entirely.”

…

“One of the killer features of Ubuntu is that the installation media is also a “live CD.” This means that you can boot it off the CD and try it out first before installing it. (You can also set Ubuntu up to boot off a USB drive.) In other words, you can make sure that all your hardware will work correctly and that you’re happy with the look and feel of the operating system before committing yourself to anything permanent. You can also carry it around and use it to boot up a friend’s computer under Ubuntu.

And when you do install it, you’ll be asked a minimum of questions, and none of them are in the least challenging to anyone who has ever installed Windows. The install is even smart enough to help you resize an existing Windows partition (even Vista!) to set up a dual-boot system and set the boot menu to handle it.”

Aha! But how many of the “casual computer users” install Windows in the first place (and why are we comparing that anyway)? Ubuntu may make installation easy - but the “casual computer users” who is used to the mouse and file-manager to do all things, would you even want to talk of shell scripts?

Is (was) Linux targeted towards the “casual computer users” in the first place?

Not too sure about that. If you look at how Linux interfaces looked 10 years back, definitely no. I remember I used to hack around the *vms and make the desktop look as bright as other OSs. Things definitely have changed, but the reputation has lingered. Linux still remains an enigma to the masses. It always was like that. Windows for masses. Mac for the passionates. *nix for the programmers.

I do wish that Ubuntu or the latest flavours of Linux makes that dent in the casual users minds. Ubuntu is ready for the millions of office workers and people who only do e-mail, word processing, and web browsing. People don’t need to know that there is a Linux kernel underneath, though the Software Update application will remind them occasionally.

For someone who wants to do more, they have to learn a lot to get things done, unlike Windows or Mac OS X. Either commercial software has to arrive or free software has to evolve past a programmer’s paradise.

Tags: computer technology, computer users, dual boot system, heron, linux, operating system, ubuntu