[NBLUG/talk] #se7en -- http://windows7sins.org/

[Scott Doty]

On 09/02/2009 10:27 PM, Bob Blick wrote:
> Jordan Erickson wrote:
>
>    
>> This needs to be communicated to school districts. Even better,
>> alternatives need to be communicated to *everyone*, because most people
>> still don't KNOW that you can run anything but Windows on a PC (PC. vs.
>> Mac is a great example). If people understood what open source was,
>> especially schools, many of them would be running Linux instead of Windows.
>>      
> That made me smile. Here are two reasons why you are wrong.
>
> 1. Since someone else pays, Windows/OSX and software are essentially
> free to schools. So why switch to something that requires time to
> master? They already know how to use Photoshop and Word.
>
>    

...except that these apps are constantly being replaced...and a lot of 
folks stay with (say) Office 2003 as long as possible.

Seriously:  Going to new Office apps on win7 is just as painful as going 
with OpenOffice on win7...probably more painful, I've heard that their 
interface is even more goofy nowadays.

Meanwhile, I was frustrated with OpenOffice a couple of weeks ago, 
trying to get a workflow going to print biz cards on Avery smooth-edge 
bizcard stock...then realized OpenOffice Writer already had a template 
for Avery 8871 card stock.

To make a long story short:  it took me about a day to get up-to-speed 
on using OpenOffice for this (non-trivial) task, but gained enough 
familiarity with OO Draw, OO Calc, and OO Writer that I'd be comfortable 
doing virtually any desktop publication project.  Labels are just as 
easy, and if all you do is write letters, it's easier than falling off a 
log.


> I've been using Linux for something like 16 years but when someone asks me about it, it's rare that I suggest they try it. The "bar" is still higher than Windows/OSX and the last thing I want is for someone to try it who is not ready and then they are soured for life.
>
>    

I respectfully disagree.  Desktop distros of 5 years ago might be 
sub-par, but great strides have been made in getting Ubuntu or Fedora to 
such a state that even grandmas are comfortable with them.  These are 
definitely ready for prime time, just as long as someone sets them up 
with the "extra" repositories to handle "non-free" codecs and such.

  -Scott