Easy Question to help a friend

gauntalus · 11-11-2005, 12:05 AM

Hey everyone, a girl I know had a question for me that I didn't know how to answer in terms that she can understand it. I was hoping that someone could present a simple analogy that would help someone not in the computer field understand this simple concept:

Code:

"If you are using Microsoft office on a computer running
windows xp can you use the same software running a 
computer with Linux?"

The (horrible) answer that I gave her was:

Code:

"basically, you can write a program in a language 
(say... c++), and you can compile it on windows and 
it will work in windows, or you can compile it on linux
and it will work in linux, you can't compile it in windows 
and expect it to work in linux, or compile it in linux and 
expect it to work in windows"

Obviously she gave me the confused face, so I ask you now for a better, easier to understand explanation. Help!

kamowa · 11-11-2005, 12:41 AM

well in the case of office, you can tell her that she can use Open Office for word processing.

and you can tell her that any program that she uses in windows, there is an equal linux counter that will probably work better.

example:

WINDOWS ------------------- LINUX
----------------------------------------------------
Windows media player ----- MPayer/Xine
Microsoft office ------------ Open Office
paint/Photoshop ------------ Gimp

gauntalus · 11-11-2005, 01:03 AM

her question was more about "why", rather than "what app does 'this' in linux that does the same thing in windows", anyways, i got it through to her, problem solved, over and out

cdhgee · 11-11-2005, 08:28 AM

Try this for an analogy. I'm not sure how close it is but it might help her get the idea:

It's like trying to bake a cake with plain flour instead of self-raising flour - the cake wouldn't rise and so just wouldn't work. You'd end up with a solid lump of cake mixture instead of a cake. You have to use the right ingredients for the task in hand. Cakes (in general) need self-raising flour because they have to rise. Windows needs windows-specific software. Linux needs Linux-specific software.

Hope this helps.

Regards
David

yoron · 11-11-2005, 11:47 AM

there is also the possibility, if you use a dualboot MS_W/Linux like me and installed your MS_Whatever on a vfat

, to use at least some of your favorite MS_software with an windows_emulator like

http://bochs.sourceforge.net/
or
http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/ossupport.html.

my PaceBlade may be willing, but i doubt that it is able.

Still for a more direct approach:

-.-.-.-.-.--.Install your favorites directly in linux if you want-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-..

----------------------quote----------------------------------------------
Wine is an implementation of the Windows 3.x and Win32 APIs on top of X and Unix.Think of Wine as a Windows compatibility layer for Linux.
Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely alternative implementation consisting of 100% Microsoft Free code, but it can optionally use native system DLLs if they are available.

Wine does not emulate the Intel x86 processor. Windows applications that do not make system calls will run just as fast as on Windows (no more no less).
With Wine Windows applications can be installed and run on a Linux-system without the need to have a dos file-system installed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which, if you like me f ex actually enjoyed W98 now and then a possibility to use some software while still driving your favorite.
And it's freeware under GNU Lesser General Public License.
http://www.winehq.com/

So she can have both under linux..
And, tell her that you fixed it, just for her

archtoad6 · 11-30-2005, 08:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by gauntalus
her question was more about "why", rather than "what app does 'this' in linux that does the same thing in windows", anyways, i got it through to her, problem solved, over and out

The whole subject of good analogies for explaining computer technicalities is very dear to me -- I teach total beginners. Anyone interested in looking for more of them, either for this example, or for others?

The best analogies are not just superficial, but draw on deep parallels between two worlds or technologies. In this case, I would start by asking: "What does the OS correspond to in the area I want to analogize with?"

If we were looking for an automotive illustration, would fuel type (gas/petrol vs. diesel/???) be helpful? "It's like trying to run your car on truck fuel." Would automobile mfr. be useful? -- "You can't put an MGA carb in a Volvo" or more generally, "You can't put a Ferrari transmission in a Ford."

In cooking, how about: "You can't expect Emeril to use a cookbook written in Hindi." (Even though Tandoori chefs might show him some new notches.) I like that one, it's general public friendly & has strong parallels to the thing to be explained.

BTW, gauntalus, how did you explain?