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Linux is not Windows


elvis

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Well, tonight I sat down with a beer and read that article. I must start also, by pointing out that I already had decided, (before I read this) that learning CLI and Terminal is something I MUST do to be able to get the most out of my Linux experience. With that said, I will continue. The article really put things into perspective for me. I wondered "why"' about so many things regarding Linux and the article explained them. Like, why is it when I asked for help on something I got answers that explained how to do, but it was CLI based for use in Terminal. I understand.

 

The following questioned made me think:

 

Before you decide you want to switch to Linux, ask yourself "Why do I want to switch?"

 

My truthful answer is that I wanted to know what Linux was all about and experience it for myself as I really don't know anything about it. So I dove in head first not really knowing wtf it was all about. I will admit, at first I loved it, secondly hated it, and now I'm realising that I need to educate myself in it. It will take effort, time and lots of questions and reading. But I want to learn it, I'm a computer geek and am interested in Linux lol. Why? I don't know yet.

 

In a way I wish I had been introduced to Linux before windows. Seeing as that is not the case, I will start fresh. I will thank Dan for typing the words that had a ZEN affect/effect on me, <quote>"Please remember, this is not Windows. Don't think like a Windows user. Think like this is your first time using a PC. Forget what you have learned!"</quote>. This really made me think about what I was doing and made me 'use the force' so-to-speak. I whole-heartly understand why Dan threw his arms up in disgust when I whinged that it's not like windows etc etc and I had a good whine about it. I have realised the error of my ways.

 

Linux HAS opened up a whole and completly NEW way of computing for me, and I am enjoying it again.

 

In finishing, I will say that I am on L plates and proabably will be for some time, there is just so much to learn. (For one I have to stop using Synaptic Package Manager so much and learn CLI/Terminal more). [any good tutorials anyone?]

 

I'm glad to have made the move. :D

 

 

Thanks goes out to sairuk and elvis for their advice, help and patience. Thank you guys. :)

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I first got seriously stuck into Linux back in 1997. If you think Linux is difficult now, you should have tried it back then when there were no GUI config tools! :)

 

I remember doing a lot of things "The Windows Way" which made life very difficult for me. I broke a lot of things (reinstalls happened daily for the first month or so). Eventually a friend came around who had a bit of Solaris and UNIX experience under his belt, and showed me a few tips and tricks. It then dawned on me that I really was trying to force this piece of software to work like something it wasn't, and when the whole "forget what you have learned" idea hit home.

 

I think the big thing for most users is that they've been using Windows for a long time. I'm sure most of the people reading this have at least played with Windows 3.1, and have migrated their way right through to the modern WinXP release. For these people, that's aorund 15 years of being forced to do things "the Microsoft way", so I'm not surprised at all when people "don't get" Linux. That's a heck of a lot of "unlearning" that needs to be done, and people are most certainl creatures of habit. And more importantly, Linux puts users back at square 1. Try to cast your mind back when you first learned how to type (for me this was on a typewriter, actually). But remember plodding away, two fingers at a time, 6 words a minute? Try to remember when you first used a DOS or Windows PC. How and where did you upgrade drivers. In fact, what the hell were drivers? All these things we know about today that were learned over time, and are often frustrating when you switch to new software that does it differently because you need to re-learn it all again.

 

I deal with end-users a lot in my job, and particulary when trying to convert businesses to a more secure system, I see a lot of resistence. Even trying to do basic things like migrate an office from IE to FireFox, people complain so much at minor things like button placement. To me, these things are fluid. I can move icons on my desktop, so who cares if an icon moves a few pixels or changes colour when I swap web browsers. Hell, it will probably change when MS bring out IE7 anyway, so why not try something new in the meantime?

 

When doing a system migration, I often come across three kinds of users:

 

1) users who want no change, and want it to be the same day-in, day-out. I call these the "VCR users". These are people who have to read the instruction manuals for their VCRs cover to cover 8 times before they will turn the thing on. Generally these people are also "step by step" users: people who don't actually understand what they are doing, but can only follow predefined instructions in a step by step manner. "Step 1, click the "START" bar - but wait... I can't use Linux because there isn't a START bar!!!".

 

2) Users who want a system "that works". Functionality is key to these people. "MS Office vs Open Office? Who cares - which ever is cheaper, and lets my run my business without hiccups". These are the kinds of users that make migrations easy. Yes, of course there's a learning curve (there always is when changing any software), but at least there's not that brick wall of non-acceptance of change. You can move past the emotional part immediately, and get on with the learning.

 

Yeah anyways... I guess the point I'm trying to make is don't hate Linux for being different. Like anything in life, it's just different, and needs to be learned as a new thing. Make any analogy you like: Getting your drivers license and then driving a motorbike, using JAMMA for 10 years and switching to NAOMI/JVS, whatever. New stuff needs to be learned, but that doesn't make it evil.

 

Good luck with your Linuxing guys. As always, I'm here if folks get stuck and need a hand. :)

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