[LUNI] Microsoft loses 10,000 (so far) in Extremadura, Spain

[Gianfranco Berardi]

While I agree with the ideas Larry has, I have to say that one of the
reason why tech support at major organizations exist is because typical
users don't do those three things with their standard desktops anyway.
Ask one "typical" user if they ever replaced the drivers for their 
video/sound cards, and those users will be like, "Uh, driver? You mean 
for Windows 97?" Ask them to reinstall Word, and they become afraid that 
all of their  documents will also be removed. Compiling is thankfully 
(or not) not an option for typical Windows users.

Adding software in Windows is difficult enough for them. Too many 
choices for Office 2000 Professional alone. That is why there is a 
Typical Install option that they will still stop and look quizically at, 
even after you told them to use it.

So yes, Linux should have an easier setup for installing...but it isn't 
going to benefit the people who are confused enough as it is by Windows 
programs.

And upgrading/troubleshooting hardware on their own? Yeah, right. I have 
dealt with tech support long enough to know that once you mention that 
they have to download something or run a program, a large number of 
users will either (a) bork it and/or the system somehow or (b) call back 
and ask for a technician to be sent out to do it for them.  There is a 
large amount who get it right, but you usually have to prod them to 
trust you that it will work.

At this point in time, I like the fact that most GNU/Linux users are 
intelligent geeks. While making the GNU/Linux system easier for general 
users is a nice goal, I won't mind waiting for that day. For now, I can 
geek out about the OS, which people haven't been able to do well with 
since DOS. And I missed out on those days. GNU/Linux is DOS for me, and 
when they make the Windows 3.1 of GNU/Linux, I know that I will proudly 
say that I know how to make the system work faster/more reliably/etc 
without it.

Larry (and I am sure a number of other people) wants an OS X for the x86 
architecture. Nothing wrong with that, and it will be cool to have.
Linux is for geeks right now, and even though it is getting easier for 
general users, most users don't know that they are even using an 
operating system. (You're using Windows XP? I have [Internet Explorer 
4.0 / AOL] myself...) They will have to deal with what their corporation 
or parents bought them.

Gianfranco