Free software and priorities?

[Rui Miguel Silva Seabra]

On Tue, Sep 25, 2007 at 02:17:44PM +0200, Carsten Agger wrote:
> but the truth is, that the people inclined to use free software are
> mainly technically inclined people - probably because less technically
> inclined people are easily discouraged, and some things (like
> installing a printer in some versions of GNU/Linux) seem unreasonably
> difficult to some people; so I try to argue, not that they necessarily
> should go through a technical challenge they couldn't always manage
> themselves without support, but that yes, it does make a difference

Hi,

The real pink elephant in the middle of the room is that people who are
not technically inclined can't add a printer in Windows. They get someone
to do it (son, technitian, someone who makes at least an effort, etc...).

My girlfriend is a translator by education, and when I bought her a laptop
I gave her a choice:

  1) use Windows (without my tech support)
  2) use GNU/Linux (with my tech support, if needed)
  3) have both Windows & GNU/Linux (with my tech support, if needed, on
     the GNU/Linux part)

She installed Ubuntu, wiping the Windows XP that was pre-installed without
even starting it one time.

This was over an year and half later, with one live migration of Ubuntu
version in the middle (to 7.04).

The only tech support I _really_ needed to give her was telling her the SSID
and key for the wi-fi network.

Rui

-- 
Frink!
Today is Pungenday, the 49th day of Bureaucracy in the YOLD 3173
+ No matter how much you do, you never do enough -- unknown
+ Whatever you do will be insignificant,
| but it is very important that you do it -- Gandhi
+ So let's do it...?