Linux for Windows Users
 

TL;DR Skip to the last paragraph.

Apologies for ignorance here. I'm a bit of a special case :D I'm what I'd consider a technophobe and a Linux user. I like basic instructions, written in English that I can understand. Most Linux guides (except IPtables and their ilk) are written in such a way I can understand and follow them.

I first started using Linux after my computer shop insisted I needed to pay for Windows 98 shortly after paying for Windows 95. When Windows 2000 (or was it XP) came along, I decided enough was enough and I'd give that free OS Linux ago. I can't even remember what distribution it was, something's telling me RedHat, but likewise I may have just found some stickers for it or something. Anyway, as I recall, everything worked out the box and worked smoothly. That is, unless I wanted to install something, then I had to very carefully follow guides, but again, most of the time, that worked fine. These days, I'm still a technophobe, I'd rather buy a new computer than fix an old one, get very scared I need to do something new or if I don't understand a line or two in an instruction, but luckily I have this fantastic forum and you wonderful people to help me.

Only last year did I have to start using Windows again, as my work bought a piece of software that only runs on Windows, and they got me a laptop to use as well, but for the most part, it's very much like Linux, just the instructions to do anything are much harder (have you tried to configure something without a command line?!). And it has to install 'drivers' everything you plug something in, even a USB mouse.

TL;DR Why do Windows users get so 'lost' and dislike Linux so much? Is it really that different? With repositories and the command line, it's much easier to install the right program and copy and paste settings where appropriate so it's much easier, I would have though.

I don't think that's true. Like all things new it boils down to (wanting to) study and practice.

Baby Duck Syndrome?

Baby duck syndrome. I like that.

I've always thought that folks expect to be experts all at once and are frustrated that they are not.

They forget that they had a learning curve on Windows (or whatever they started with), but it was stretched out over weeks or months or years.

Why ignore the windows command line? Like Linux, you can do nearly all administrative tasks from the windows command line.

I'm not sure. I follow "How to" guides, which nearly always involve at best screenshots of where to click/type/options to select and at word just a text description, which often involves misquoted headings and therefore involves a bit of guess work.

I think "baby duck syndrome" actually would explain it pretty well, as well as my feelings towards Windows. :lol:

No, I do not think it is possible. For example editing the registry entries can be done using regedit.

Return back to the original question:
users who are looking for windows will be lost using linux, users who want to discover linux will enjoy that os.

There's a thread with a poll here in LQ on task bar placement. In reading through the thread, people prefer task bar placement based on where the task bar was when they first started using the OS. That must be the baby duck at work.

I think the Windows graphical interface appeals to users across three of the four VARK learning styles. Visual, Read/write, Kinesthetic. Only Auditory is left out. Then extrapolate that only the Read/write Windows users will find the move to Linux easy. I realize that Linux can be graphical, but "out of the box" and at its fundamental core it isn't a graphical OS. The Visual and Kinesthetic learners have a little freak out.

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/index.asp and http://www.vark-learn.com/english/pa...=questionnaire. Most people already know how they learn best, it's really neat to find out how those around you learn. Helps keep the frustration in check.

You can feed regedit with text-files at least to add registry keys. But that is not necessary, Windows versions since Vista have the newer PowerShell, which can, due to its ability to use the .Net framework, configure the whole system (and do basically anything that .Net can do). Newer versions of Windows Server even have a no-GUI option.

Back on topic, it comes down what you are most used to, not necessarily what you learned first. I started using computers with the legendary C64, but when I started working with PCs I found DOS and Windows quite convenient (in my eyes Windows 2000 was the best version ever). When trying out Linux I was at first quite shocked about the concepts (how should I find anything if there isn't even a C: drive or use a CD without having a D: drive). After I learned how it worked it was quite easy to do everyday tasks with both OSes, but nowadays, with using Windows almost only for gaming, I am quite uncomfortable with using Windows for anything else (I can't count how many times I click the middle button on the mouse to paste a text and it simply does not happen, the concept of a manual copy and paste seems to be almost antique now).
A few years ago I gave away a Linux computer to someone that barely ever has used a computer before and let her choose between XFCE and LXDE (Gnome and KDE where to heavy for that machine). Nowadays there is no problem for that person to do everyday tasks on Linux and Windows computers. It seems to me that solely the awareness that there can be more than one GUI has made that person less opposed to using different computer systems.

So I would say it might be a part baby duck syndrom, a part just being used to a way that one self deems to be simpler (even if it is such a concept most people see as somewhat strange, like using a tiling WM), regardless if that is not what you have learned first.

I ran Windows for only two years approx. before I discovered Linux. If I started using Windows now, maybe I'd be as lost as some long-term Windows users coming to Linux. I doubt it, though.

Part of the problem, o'course, was that until PowerShell came along, Windows' command-line capabilities basically sucked. What little there was, was a warmed-over Thanksgiving Turkey from the CP/M days. No exposure of the Registry, or of the OLE system which is essentially "the guts of" Windows. PowerShell belatedly did a lot to change that.

But ... "what the heck's wrong with a good GUI?" :) I prefer 'em, when I can get 'em.

If I had to choose to manually change registry settings or change settings with a GUI I would definitely choose the GUI, if available. Nonetheless I prefer a well documented textfile for settings.

It's a matter of NEED. Once you know one way to use a computer, there isn't much need to learn a different way.

If you started with Linux, then moved to Windows I'm sure you'd be frustrated as well. I had the same issue when I moved from Windows 95 to OS/2 Warp. Many people are saying the same thing about Windows 8 that they say about Linux.

If there was something that people needed that Linux could do but could not be done with Windows there would be more motivation to switch to Linux.

Except you have 2 choices: #1 is "dumbing-down" if you were to only use Windows (tho Windows knowledge is necessary for some tech-support related jobs), or #2 to stay with Linux (with us), keep learning, keep getting smarter in your computer usage. ;) A life-long Windows user moving into Linux has only one way to go: UP

Funny how it seems I use Windows 90% of the time when I check or post stuff in the forums here tho. :P Work stuff or gaming right before bed...

You don't need to "dumb down" only because you use Windows. In my time before Linux I studied Windows almost to the extent I now study Linux. Just because the majority of Windows users does not do this (like I would guess the majority of Linux users is not interested in LFS) there is no force not to do this.