What makes some tech savvy people decide to give GNU/Linux a try and others never even bother?
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I've known persons who were very adept at using complex, intricate applications (such as, just to pick a couple, Adobe nDesign and Active Directory) that are quite savvy about the tech that they use, but they have no notion of what's going on behind the scenes of the tech that they know. I think that persons who are attracted to Linux are not just tech savvy; they are also tech curious.
+1
Most people, technical or otherwise, just don't care what OS they run as they have more important things to worry about. The most important thing is that the OS can run the programmes they want it to run.
For many if not most, the OS and the hardware are inextricably connected - as MS intended.
You're right, it should be FOSS/GNU/Linux. back in the days when it was only a basic terminal system, GNU/Linux was correct.
I'm a bit 'tech savvy' since I started using Linux & BSD, but I came to it because it was free, to obtain & use, MS wanted to charge me for everything!
In the spirit of 'RS', I give back to the community were I can, hence my presence on forums, as I'm not a programmer.
Maybe it should be ProprietaryFirmware/FOSS/GNU/Linux, since the platform code, graphics, NICs, and Wifi all run binaries that might be doing anything.
I've known persons who were very adept at using complex, intricate applications (such as, just to pick a couple, Adobe nDesign and Active Directory) that are quite savvy about the tech that they use, but they have no notion of what's going on behind the scenes of the tech that they know. I think that persons who are attracted to Linux are not just tech savvy; they are also tech curious.
I would guess that "tech-savvy" people are slightly less afraid of messing things up when trying something that's a bit more cutting edge.
Perhaps the reason businesses have been reluctant to change to FOSS is because businesses have a lot to lose when things get messed up, even more than people.
Hi jbuckley2004. I was thinking more along the lines of home users.
While I use a lot of Linux, my main PC runs Windows 10. Why?
- it just works
- hard to do my job without MS Office, mostly because of the investment in existing Powerpoint presentations (no, they don’t display correctly in {Open,Libre}Office) and the Office requirement of my business partner
- hard to do my job without Camtasia
I think one can be open-minded without using Linux. There are only so many hours in a day, and you have to pick the things you want to deal with.
By the way, GNU/Linux is a misnomer. It should be Apache/MariaDB/Oracle/KDE/..../GNU/Linux. Linux as an abbreviation works for me. If you prefer, we can also call it Richardix.
Hi berndbausch. I'm not saying they're not open-minded. I'm just curious as to why they wouldn't even try Linux for a few minutes at the very least.
Last edited by linustalman; 07-14-2019 at 06:49 AM.
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I think their point was that; if one is happy with things the way they are, then they are hardly likely to "try" something else just for the sake of it - as much as they could if they wanted to.
While I also have to agree with Frank (excellent point made); I was "OS curious" when I first heard about Linux. To cut a long story short; I was doing an IT course and the network admin's office was in the same building, and he introduced me to Linux (he himself uses FreeBSD) in around 2005/2006 or thereabouts from memory - I'd never even heard of "Linux" or "UNIX" before that. I didn't even know you could download a "free OS" before that.
I remember telling someone about how I was using Linux instead of Windows, and of course he became "OS curious", because his mate uses Linux from what he said. Only problem was that he expected me to not only install it for him, but also troubleshoot any problems he had with it - so good thing he realised I wasn't going to be his unpaid tech support, and of course he was no longer "OS curious" ...
I got into Linux via the Harrow Computer Club around the turn of the century. We were all using Windows 95/98. I had some previous experience on mainframes but I'd never used any kind of Unix. Someone from the London LUG gave us a talk and left behind a Debian installation disc. I think it was Debian Potato, or maybe Sarge. We tried to install it on the club machine and made a complete mess of it. The installers of that time were pretty obscure. You had to know a lot about Linux already to make the right decisions.
Still, the club thought it ought to explore a bit further, so I was deputed to try out a cli only version of Red Hat 6. And the rest is history.
I won't lie. Many years ago in another life the main reason I looked into open source and alternative operating systems was to make it safer to look at adult material on the internet. Malware and all...
That being said I quickly lost interest in that as I saw the capabilities of the system. Other than a few occasional flips where I had no choice, I've been pure Linux for near 5 years now. It runs my home server / media server, the only desktop in the house and our laptops. Could even say on the phones and tablets as well (android). At one point my knowledge with this stuff even got me the best paying job I've ever had. Had to give up for ethical reasons. It really is a perfect system imo. Other than when I flirted with playing World of Warcraft I haven't booted Windows in some time now. I have always found alternatives with open source, many better than what Windows offers.
I've even been deploying it with some people in my religious organization. I come across parts all the time. Doesn't take much to assemble a modest machine and throw Ubuntu on it. Away they go with nary a whisper or complaint. Even have a pxe install server on my lan just for this purpose.
Last edited by jmgibson1981; 07-19-2019 at 10:02 PM.
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