[Leaplist] Dell to offer GNU/Linux

["pberry2" at cfl.rr.com]

Fuzzy Conner wrote:
>>> I think that it could be a formula for disaster, for the Linux world,
>>> if Dell's are bought by windiots!
>>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6506027.stm
>>>       
>
>
> I was curious about this kind of thing a year or so ago, so I conducted an experiment with a user.
>
> My cousin was living at my house and needed a typical end-user PC experience--check email, browse the web, and the typical music CD things (listen, rip, burn).  He also bought a new digital camera with a USB interface and he liked to print things.  My cousin represents most PC consumers in that he really doesn't care how it works so long as it just works.  Sooooo he became my "guinea pig." :)
>
> The experiment:  Install GNU/Linux with KDE and "nonfree" codecs and media players on a modern PC, tell the user his name and password, and wait to see if he required any assistance.
>
> I told a few friends at the time what I was planning.  Everyone said
> "Great!  You should document this."  There really was nothing to
> write:  The user needed no assistance whatsoever.  Email and web browsing with Firefox, burning CD's with K3b, and his camera all worked perfectly.  He used the PC about 4 days a week for over 9 months and never had any questions
>   

I am talking about real, dumb, windiots, like the folks who don't know 
"how do I turn on the computer, when the monitor light is blinking real 
slowly?"  (because it is in 'sleep' mode... Duh!).

or, who goes into the filesystem,  and hits the 'format' button, or, 
goes into the system folder and starts deleting files "because they are 
just sitting there, wasting space, where I could put some MP3s!"!!!

When I give them a LiveCDrom, they want to know everything about it 
before they ever test it in their own system...