Education must be changed before Linux become the most used OS
Many people around the globe have been discussed why Ubuntu, and GNU/Linux in general, can(’t) became the world’s most used operating system. There are several reasons on favour and lot more against. I do not want to list many, just this one, that in my opinion may be the largest one:
Education: I cant avoid quoting Morpheus, from The Matrix:
The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you’re inside, you look around. What do you see?
Business people, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy.
You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inure, so hopelessly dependant on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
Morpheus know what he was talking about (not really, actually was Larry & Andy who did). And that is true.
There is a (operational?) system, and there is a monopoly around it. It’s not company’s that develops that system the fault (at least not completely), neither the users of that system. The majority of that users still using this system because they don’t know the options, because someone, someday, met the system and since them they use it.
Say to someone who have been used the MS Windows for the last ten years that he/she needs to change for a free alternative because it will be better for him/her, it won’t help, most likely he will laugh of you (in some cases they might be mad, indeed). As Morpheus properly said, they are so hopelessly dependant on that system, that will fight to protect it.
And so…?
“If my Windows box just works, why sould I change it?” Try to convince and show the reasons why GNU/Linux is better and how to switch in a painless way as possible. A good start point would be reading and understanding the content of sites such as
http://www.getgnulinux.org
http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net
http://www.reichel.net/opensource/linuxtop10.html
Even if the people think Windows is better, they must know the alternatives, and why not get knowing the free ones? I’m pretty sure that if 50% of the computer users of the world know GNU/Linux (know = being used a modern distribution for some hours or enough time to make an opinion), the Linux would has today at least 30% of the desktop market.
The Linux has changed! GNU/Linux is not like it was five years ago (when I started off) and the people must know that. The Linux desktop is ready, right now, and shouldn’t be considered as a project anymore.
GNU/Linux should be taught in the schools. The kids are the future. If you have the chance to choose teaching a kid or a old man, choose the kid, they will probably learn effortless, and will be much more easy for you.
The business of tomorrow are owned by them, as well the education, technology and everything.
The system is ready, are the people who aren’t. But it is relatively easy to fix if they want to.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Well written. I totally agree with you.
July 23rd, 2007 at 3:42 pm
“GNU/Linux should be taught in the schools.”
Hence Edubuntu
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm
The business of future part suffers from the fact that present linux distributions are not built for business. The lack of “enterprise” features out of the box is appalling, and a show stopper for many. For some areas there simply are no projects building the required features at all. This is something most of the developers can not see as they are not working in such serious environments themselves on proper organizational level. The world is very very different there.
Also, I can recognize quite a few relatively low hanging fruits for the rest, and couple strategically important projects - which are not just getting the resources and leadership they deserve. I’d like to see someone to start doing exactly that - strategic leadership, or it will never be leveraged.
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
“And many of them are so inert” is wrong, the correct phrase is “And many of them are so inured”.
July 23rd, 2007 at 5:32 pm
“And many of them are so inert” is wrong. The correct phrase is: “And many of them are so inured”.
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:08 pm
you are saying that everyone who says I prefer windows is an enemy? someone who is brainwashed???
this is rubbish.
July 23rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I’ve been playing with Linux since those days when I needed 2 floppys to boot/install, and I obtained an ugly Xwindows with just a few applications. From Slackware, Mandrake, OpenSuse and a few more, (now Uberyl) it was never easy. My webcam doesn’t work properly (Yes, a nice guy developed a driver that made the webcam work at low speed). There is no driver for my new printer. I cannot connect to my mobile because its protocol is not standard. I had to tell Linux that my IDE CD is SCSI in order to work. Have you ever seen the instructions to write a DVD? In Windows there are free programs (some of them not so bad) and commercial ones (that may be worth to pay) that get the ‘user friendly concept’ a way of designing. In Linux you must remember the command line of several applications in order to do the same. I’ve developed a few tools to make some tasks easier, if I can everybody cans. But the fact is that there are a lot of little things that take a couple of evenings of HOW-TO’s and forums.
Linux has changed, that’s true. Drivers are available faster, there is an important effort in documentation, etc. The enterprise environment is another world, there is people working deeply and constantly, with time and knowledge ¿? to sucsess. But in home distros, there is still a long way. Everybody knows that the drivers of some famous 3D boards fails sometimes. Since years. Patience & freakys vs. well finished distros.
I aggre with LaserJock, and I’ll keep playing with Linux but I still need Windows for a lot of things.
July 23rd, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Angela Kahealani said what I came here to say. wiktionary
July 24th, 2007 at 2:58 am
One of the reasons I didn’t bother taking a look at Linux up until now was the fact that accessibility (I am totally blind) was not available for anything other than the command shell. But this has changed recently, due to the incredible work the Orca team has done, and the on-going work with Orca and Firefox 3, OpenOffice, and some of the other stuff in the Ubuntu distributions has changed that picture dramatically. I am now taking a long hard look at things and find it actually quite useable!
July 24th, 2007 at 5:37 am
I’m pretty sure that if 50% of the computer users of the world know GNU/Linux (know = being used a modern distribution for some hours or enough time to make an opinion), the Linux would has today at least 30% of the desktop market.”
What the foo are you talking about, man? 30 percent of the market share? No way in bar! Not even Apple’s mac have that kind of influence!
I will be -happy- once 50% of the computer-users know about linux!
I know, it’s easy to believe that the amount of noise we do on the internet is reflected by how many people that are using it. But that is not the case - we are a noisy community, but we do all the noise inside our territory; IRC, Usenet, Mailing-lists, FSF-campaigns, blogs et cetera. Try visiting domains where non-linux people hang out (youtube, last.fm, myspace, livejournal, etc) and see for yourself!
Well, I don’t know. Maybe this 30% is accurate where you live, but this is very much not the case in Sweden where I live.
July 24th, 2007 at 5:41 am
Oh, yes. I forgot. Otherwise, I totally agree with you.