RE: [OS:N:] OSN - what are the best desktop systemsforeducational use?

[Jeremy Hogan <jhogan redhat com>]

On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 14:01, Brian E. Adams wrote:
> Can you clarify 'linux is far superior to Windows' for me?

'technically...superior'
^^^^^^^^^^^^

You're not gonna get me that easy...;-)

The tech specs and performance of the Linux is now greater than that of
a Unix based system, long and widely considered the performance
workhorse of the enterprise, only running on far more architectures than
any one Unix or Windows release. My point was that we easily displace
Unix based on that, and if it was a technical superiority contest, other
OSs before Linux may have pressured Windows.  Unix power on affordable
Intel hardware? In my house? Great!

It's the ecosystem/comfort zone of the non-enterprise user wanting
something good enough for general use (as Windows is) who is not
incented to move from Windows, despite security and stability track
record. Among those people, are many using computers because they *have*
to. If you lack enthusiasm for the technology side, many things will get
you by. If you don't you need hand holding. We haven't yet had 25 years
in a single vendor environment to perfect our desktop strategy, but we
sure did nail that enterprise thing awful quick.

My feeling is the next generation, those who never had to be told what a
computer was, or convinced it could fit on one desk (or in a pocket)
will not be afraid to leave their comfort zone. Others feel they have
been pushed from it by audit threats, a chain of upgrades they don't
want to make to get the one thing they want (ie to run the new Office,
you may need a new OS, which likely needs newer hardware.) Couple that
with the industry trending toward web services, and Windows becomes just
another client. Not to mention the ISVs and IHVs that aren't so sure
they like being locked in despite what customers may aske for. These are
all disruptive enablers.

The point of the thread is that there are millions of users who haven't
felt the pain they will feel in future offerings, and that we've already
gone past in technology and security, and will soon be all over the
usability question.

--jeremy

> 
>  
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: open-source-now-list-admin redhat com
> [mailto:open-source-now-list-admin redhat com] On Behalf Of Jeremy Hogan
> Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 12:44 PM
> To: open-source-now-list redhat com
> Subject: Re: [OS:N:] OSN - what are the best desktop systems foreducational
> use?
> 
> I would consider the classroom and lab environment a controlled setting,
> with staffing for support (in many cases). You can set policy as to how
> and where to get bits, have content filtering and firewalling.
> 
> The desktop != workstation in our strategy. The article you are likely
> referring to chose the quotes the author thought made for sexy press.
> And he was right, what was lost is the inferred "ready for Red Hat to
> commit support and life cycle resources and service agreements" and also
> lost the context of our roadmap which puts our desktop offering 12
> months out.
> 
> Technically, of course, Linux is far superior to windows. But having
> suffered through rolling 3000 people from Windows 95 to 98,  The
> majority of which use computers because they have to. It's no picnic
> when things look and feel and operate mostly the same, but in the case
> of a corporate workstation the user has to adapt to what the IT folks
> say to run, and for the IT folks having it hard for the user to double
> click an attachment that grinds the e-mail system to a halt is a bonus. 
> As for home users, they are a nice combination of very fickle and
> stubborn. They want to and will install whatever they can et their hands
> on. They want the option of sticking with exactly that if they wish, and
> won't even go for clones that are functionally equivalent.
> 
> So for many many people, if you grant that the desktop market is a MS
> market, Linux is not ready. It's not dumb enough on the top, despite
> being smarter underneath. Too much hardware doesn't work out of the box,
> mime types act differently for different programs, there's not enough
> standards compliance within many distributions, let alone between them.
> 
> The last thing I'll mention, before it starts to sound like RH doesn't
> think it will ever happen, is installation. No matter how easy it gets,
> it will never be seen as "easy" as a Windows install b/c no one installs
> Windows. It comes on the machine. 
> 
> For Linux to be the all singing all dancing desktop it needs OEMs, IHVs,
> ISVs, and developers all looking at that user. 
> 
> --jeremy
> 
> On Wed, 2003-11-05 at 12:07, charles macdonald hrdc-drhc gc ca wrote:
> > I heard a quote the other day that indicated that someone from redhat did
> not think that his product was the best desktop for consumer use, I am
> wondering where it (and the fedora system which is apparently to be the
> successor)  would fit in in an educational setting.
> > 
> > 
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