Our friend, the Windows user...

[aysiu]

Last night, our Windows user friend came over--we'll call her Kathy.

It was funny. We were chatting on Skype with each other (even though we were all in the same apartment... just for fun)--Kathy on her Windows laptop, my wife on her Mac Powerbook laptop, I on my Ubuntu desktop.

At one point, we were testing out emoticons. Apparently, if someone uses an emoticon that your version of Skype can't understand, instead of a graphic appearing, you get words in parentheses. So my wife had some weird muscle emoticon (OS X) that Kathy and I saw only as (muscle). If I typed (mooning) all I saw was (mooning), but my wife and Kathy saw a little graphic of a man pulling down his pants and show off his rear end.

Kathy was surprised that I couldn't see a lot of the emoticons, and then she turned around, looked at my monitor, and said, "Oh, 'cause you're using Linux."

In her mind, Linux doesn't "just work" because of things like a few emoticons in Skype not working.

One time I set up Linux for her on an old computer, and it was a disappointing experience for her. I shouldn't have because I was just a beginner then (had been using Linux only about a month). I put KDE on 128 MB of RAM (I should have used XFCE) and didn't realize Thunderbird and Hotmail mix only so well (shouldn't have even set up Linux on her computer, since she likes to use Outlook Express instead of checking Hotmail on a web browser). So she got her emails all redownloaded (and duplicated) every time she checked her email and her computer would freeze if she had more than two applications open.

Since then, she's ditched the 128 MB computer and gotten a new Toshiba laptop with Windows XP.

Has it "just worked"? Hardly. But she doesn't complain about Windows. In this way, she's a very typical Windows user--skeptical of Linux, tolerant of Windows.

What's gone wrong with her laptop?

1. I lent her a Windows game I got for a birthday present (I don't game) called Star Wars: Knights of the Republic. She said it didn't work properly because of some weird bug. There was a patch available that was supposed to address the problem, but it didn't address her problem. The game installer also warned her that her system didn't meet the minimum specifications for the game, but it actually did.

2. Her CD-ROM drive burns coasters half the time. I asked her if it was the burning program she was using, but she's tried it with several different programs. I asked if it was the speed, but she said she's tried burning at low speeds, too. She insists it's not that her CD-ROM drive (hardware) is broken, and her latest theory is that it's the disks (depending on the brand). Of course, my CD burner in Ubuntu and my wife's CD burner in OS X work fine on all brands of blank CD we've tried.

3. When she opens her laptop from sleep, sometimes a few keys don't work.

Now, those three problems are pretty serious problems, I'd say. The game I gave her was designed for Windows. She's not trying to use Cedega to play it. It's a very popular game. It's not some obscure piece of software. Her laptop is new. Her CD-ROM drive burns coasters half the time. This is a new laptop that she paid money for.

If I were her, I'd either take the laptop back for a refund/exchange or pop Ubuntu on it.

She's a die-hard Windows user, though. She honestly doesn't mind that stuff doesn't work as long as it's Windows. But a few emoticons don't show up in a Linux Skype chat? "Oh, it's 'cause you're using Linux."

The point of the story isn't that Windows is crap or that Toshiba is. I've used Windows before, and the operating system doesn't consistently burn coasters or not play games.

The experience, however, confirms two things I've generally found:

A) Computer problems happen from time to time, no matter what operating system you use (yes, my wife's had problems with her Mac Powerbook, too, but she still loves it). They're not unique to Linux-based operating systems.

B) Windows users just don't see it that way. If things screw up in Windows, that's too bad. If they screw up in Linux, that's to be expected.

[mstlyevil]

It's the damned if you do damned if you don't syndrome. It is funny that many Windows users do not use the same standards on Windows that they do Linux to decide that it is not ready for the desktop.

[dosed150]

sometimes things like that are good like using gaim = no winks or nudges

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Ignorance is bliss.

FUD is fun.

[aysiu]

In a way, there is a difference.

Her laptop isn't working the way it's supposed to. If it were working the way it was supposed to, it'd be fully functioning.

My Skype was working the way it was supposed to--Skype just makes the Linux version crippled.

In the end, though, her computer doesn't do what it's supposed to, and a lot of new Linux users (especially on these forums) judge Linux based on a bad install or incompatible hardware instead of what it's supposed to do.

[Vlammetje]

It's because most people (the ones that I know of anyway) are really, seriously, unable to grasp that something that is not 'hyped and overexpensive' and most importantly 'the standard that everybody seems to use' (well... that they know of anyway) has an alternative.

Let alone grasp that this alternative is free (oos) and can do almost everything windows can.

It's, in my opinion, because people are largely unaware of their alternatives and their choices, that they put up with whatever may be the issue with their Windows set up. And in all fairness.... not all windows set ups have problems.... and when your PC or laptop and the Windows copy on it does what you expect it to do, 'just work', chances are you won't start looking for an alternative very quickly either.

Really... when I look around me, when I say I use 'linux' (Ubuntu means nothing to most people) the usual response is that there are no applications for that, and that typical windows stuff (MSN messenger for example) won't work. Which is true to a degree but there are ways around MSN messenger clients.... and I have every application and all functionality I used to have with XP. However nobody believes me until they see it for themselves.

As for computer problems being down to the OS... I find most Windows users that have been around for a number of years (and windows releases) have come to expect a number of problems with their own boxes as well and are generally not daunted by a few blue screens here and there. Instead, they accept it as 'part of the package' in a way. Their view seems to be that linux users, essentially users of an 'unprofesional' OS, must be experiencing way more and worse problems than they have seen so far.
Well... that's what I get from the folks around me.... not necessarily representative for the entire Windows world, but interesting for feedback nonetheless.

[majikstreet]

I totally understand.. I have an aqaintance.. Let's call him "DudeWithaRepThatNoOneCanKnowThatHeIsOnAHarryPotte rPodcast". Ok fine, lets not.

He thinks linux sucks. and anytime I mention it, he always calls me a name..

Maybe it's because I complain sometimes about alsa or networking issues to him... lol...

majik

[aysiu]

Vlammetje, I agree with your general analysis.

And familiarity breeds comfort, no matter what.

Even getting people to switch browsers was relatively painful until recently (now that Firefox has really taken off). Switching operating systems is a big step.

[tufkakf]

Who cares?
If she prefers windows, let her use windows and be done with it.

Really, I don't get why so many people around here seem to be so preoccupied with windows, windows users and windows users making dumb comments.

I for one don't use Ubuntu because it's not windows, or because I want to stick it to MS, but because I simply like it.

[aysiu]

Who cares?
If she prefers windows, let her use windows and be done with it.

I am letting her use Windows. If you read the original post, I actually said it was a mistake for me to push Linux on her in the first place (go ahead--read the first post). What bugs me is the perception that Linux is crap, even when people experience more problems on Windows.