Where Can Linux Leap Ahead - Part 1
While reading today’s news stories for Linux, I noticed the release of LightZone, a commercial program for editing and managing pictures, for Linux. This made me think about Linux’s target audience. While many distros seem to be marketing themselves to the “average” user, it seems to me that the “average” user is not tech savvy enough to care about Linux or anything other than Windows, Microsoft Office, and their work.
In this series of articles, I will cover the following groups of computer users and what ties they have to existing platforms and what potential attractions they have to Linux.
- Home User - Tied into work’s system
- Home User - Not tied into work’s system
- Large Business
- Small Business
- Creative Professional
- Geek
- Traveler
- University
In this part I will cover the two types of home users — those tied into their work’s system and those free from their work’s system.
Home User - Tied into work’s system
Example: Average computer user working in a large business that requires their employees use Outlook, Office, and other Windows-tied (or Mac-tied) software
A computer user like this has almost no interest in the various pros and cons of different operating systems and even if they did they are required to run a non-Linux operating system by their work. These sorts of people are very hard to convert to Linux, because even if you convince them Linux is better, you still have to convince their employer.
Home User - Not tied into work’s system
Example: Someone whose work has nothing to do with computers and is not required to run anything by their employer
Although these people have no tie to Windows other than familiarity, they are, just like the other type of home user, unlikely to care at all about technology and the benefits of Linux (if they do, they are a geek and geeks are a different category.) Because they do not care, they are highly unlikely to bother to switch to Linux and learn a new operating system and the applications that run on it, no matter how much better it is.
Summary
For the reasons explained above, non-geek home users seem to be a very difficult group to switch to Linux, mostly because they are not interested in technology and don’t want to have to learn a new operating system, or switch to the new software that it runs. Of course this is not the case of all home users, but, for the purpose of this series, users who do care count as geeks.
Although people often talk about getting the average home user to switch to Linux, this may not be the right group of people to market Linux to.
December 20th, 2007 at 4:57 am
Even in Windows many users have no interest in learning anything new. They just want to use the system for content and getting work done in the shortest possible time. I think too much is made about Linux being difficult. Ubuntu is plenty easy! This does not mean people won’t be choosy about what OS they run though. In the future many will accept Linux once they understand it’s advantages. (Custom & Secure Internet workstation with great packaged software). The people/businesses who have adapted to Free software will benefit greatly and provide examples to help others overcome inertia. Linux is getting better and better at a very fast clip. Already hugely successful in device deployment it certainly has a bright desktop future.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:35 am
If you look at the use cases where a home user uses their PC - it is mostly a very small subset of the flexibility and power that a modern PC provides. I believe that due to green pressures (in europe), security concerns of managing a large operating system and lower price points we will see appliance based devices that are smaller and less power hungry. (ref: the Asus EeePC)
These will be linux based with much more dynamic interfaces that are akin to the mobile industry (point and touch) because it is a cheaper product platform and allows a smaller design/build/test cycle.
c
December 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am
[...] you missed the first part, here is a quick summary. Otherwise, just skip this [...]
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:24 pm
[...] you missed the first part or the second part, here is a quick summary. Otherwise, just skip this [...]
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:15 pm
[...] Thanks to this comment, I changed one of the groups of people to schools. I can’t believe I forgot schools, but they are certainly a very important market for Linux. See part 3. [...]