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Living Room / Re: Linux vs. Vista for an absolute beginner? (+related Vista/hardware query)
« Last post by Paul Keith on March 25, 2009, 05:24 PM »Probably because Vista comes standard with laptops today, and XP is usually an extra expense? Besides, Vista isn't as bad as a lot of people claim (after all, I'm still running it after my 30-day immersion experiment).-f0dder (March 25, 2009, 12:07 PM)
True but you're still left with an underpowered PC compared to XP with those specs.
Too small to read? depends on the font size used. And if the index tree is done properly, it's much easier to use than Ctrl+F'ing through a large text document (and besides, you still have full-text search with .chm - win/win).
See, that's the thing. You don't make large text documents. You create a .txt for each specific option. Often times proper folder hierarchy goes a long way. The only time you need .chm files is if you want to bleed your eyes out learning the ins and outs of the program and even then, rarely are they as useful as a book specifically for it. These are newbies we are talking about. Most of them won't have a problem with Linux if they all just rtfm or in this case rtf.chm. Of course this doesn't happen often enough though.
Often times they just want to find a small option located in a small .txt file where it gives them a clue as to what they should do. Win-win situation would still to have small .txt files there since they're light on memory anyways and have .chm for people who prefer it that way.
For absolute beginners? O_o - bad idea. I wouldn't dare anything like that with non-powerusers. Even people that have been using computers for 10+ years but never took it beyond what they need for the office would be confused by this kind of setup.
I think it would be even worse if you're on Linux and then you need a Windows program and wine can't emulate it well. Also remember that the Ubuntu model is much simpler to learn than XP. It both has a GUI installation guide from LiveCD and an actual LiveCD. You're also not bound to get infected by viruses because you tried connecting to the internet before installing an AV ESPECIALLY with newbies who don't know how prone to viruses Windows machine are.
I think it would only confuse them because there's a myth that people can't switch programs but it's actually not true. Often times, people just don't explore and the options aren't handed to them via clear .txts folders on the desktop kind of stuff.
Ubuntu/Mint though has some of the friendliest user interfaces especially when tweaked. Out of the box, the problem often does not come from the OS themselves but understanding how OpenOffice file formatting works in conjunction with MS Office file format.
File managers though, Nautilus is as easy but slower than Explorer. I'd personally install PCMan file manager for simplicity. File hierarchy, Linux for casual users is much easier to get because it's all in the user folder often and there's a software repository. Internet browsing still, Linux is on par especially later on when you can remove IE where the only flaw is flash slowdown.
Now combine this with virtualbox and people can start comparing two OS's side by side and learn the ins and outs of both to an average extent that when they do need to use a PC with another OS, they're not screwed. (This would also be my criticism with people using Macs primarily from an OS newbie standpoint)
All in all, Linux allows these people the freedom to learn some complex power-user habits without screwing them up while it allows people a good introduction to how Windows works and it's actually easier in the long run to go from complicated to less complicated than reverse so these users also aren't screwed out of their money by buying an OS.
