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Recommending Linux With Confidence: Where We Need To Go
It is not uncommon for people to ask me my opinion on operating systems or ask for help with computer issues. If I wished to recommend Mac OS X to someone, I can tell them to buy a Mac and be confident they wouldn’t run into issues with it. I know that if they take my advice for their next computer, they will pull it out of the box, turn it on, and it will work. Apple, even if I don’t like everything they do, has made it very easy for me to recommend their computers. (Ever wonder why there are so many people promoting Apple for free?) If I feel that Linux would be a better fit for the person in question, though, it is less clear what I should recommend. Ubuntu is, of course, a given for me, but how?
Do I recommend a pseudo-install with Wubi, that they install it normally on their existing computer, or that they buy a new computer pre-installed with it? I am not going to advise most people to go through partitioning on their own. Even if the Ubuntu installer makes it easy, there is too high a risk they destroy their data by accident or end up with a non-booting system. (And you know who gets to fix it, right?) Wubi isn’t a real install, so it is a good transition, but it runs more slowly than a real install. Plus, like the standard installer, there is always the risk of incompatible software. Ubuntu might be compatible with 90% of what’s out there, but that means 10% of the hardware will cause problems or require advanced setup.
So what about buying it pre-installed. Great! Just find me a vendor that pre-installs legal media and DVD playback codecs, makes all the hardware work out of the box without issue, and promptly ensures their hardware is compatible with the latest release. See that’s the problem. I can’t tell someone to go buy a <vendor name> computer and be confident that everything will work as soon as they turn it on.
Am I suggesting Canonical needs to get in to the hardware business? No. A partenership might not be a bad idea, but no, I do not think it would be smart for them to make their own hardware. I do think that there is a market for Linux-powered computers that are guaranteed to work as soon as they come out of the boxes. If a solution like this existed, I would be a lot more confident recommending Linux to everyone.
Thanks to the power of Linux, there is a virtually infinite set of commands that can mess up your system and/or destroy your data. While I have never seen anyone advise someone else to run these commands, it is definitely a potential issue that a newbie could be told to run a command that would destroy his or her data and system. As demonstrated by this post, there are plenty of commands that are very hard to recognize, but will wipe out data.
Already, some Linux distros (such as Ubuntu) are putting stickies in their forums advising new users against running potentially malicious commands, but it is not realistic to think that everyone will read these stickies. So how can new users be protected against this possibility? A good step would be to add an additional layer of protection (in addition to sudo) that warns new users when they attempt to execute commands that are either common malicious commands (sudo rm -rf /, for example – don’t try it) or might destroy a large number of files.
This would be a simple step that could be taken as a preventive measure to ensure that no new users are greeted with a nasty suprise when they go to look for their files.
Improving (And/Or Recreating) Linux's Reputation
Recently, a Free Software Foundation Magazine article discussed the bad reputation that Linux seems to have collected. The author recounts his experience talking with a Linux user who, almost unknowingly, credited Windows with working better with peripherals. The author suggests that we help newbie Linux users through problems, rather than just doing it for them or pointing them to a guide. This might help, and there is something better we can do.
Take Ubuntu, for example. There are really two brand name options that can be used:
- Linux – Most users have either never heard of it or think of it as a geek’s toy or a server OS.
- Ubuntu – Most users have never heard of it or have heard about it being “Linux for human beings” and that Dell sells it on some computers.
Furthermore, think about these two explanations from the perspective of a new users:
- Ubuntu is a free, easy to use operating system I think you should try. It is based on some generic code called Linux that forms the base system.
- I think you should try a free operating system called Linux. In order to install Linux, you need to install something called Ubuntu, which is a distribution of Linux, just like a bunch of other distributions.
It should be obvious that it is better to introduce new users to Ubuntu than to Linux, yet this is not normally what happens.
The truth is, Linux is a geek’s toy and Ubuntu is a free operating system that can be installed as easily as any other Windows application. Because of this, we should change how we introduce Ubuntu, so that we can start from nothing and build up the reputation, rather than trying to undo a bad reputation. Plus, this new way makes more sense and is easier to explain. It just makes more sense to a new user.
When I see an idea on Ubuntu Brainstorm suggesting some sort of popup when Ubuntu boots to teach new users about Ubuntu, I almost always vote it down. Why? I hate popups! Every operating system I have tried that pops something up has been incredibly annoying. Worse, the popup is rarely useful at all. I do recognize, however, the importance of informing new users about what they need to know to get started with Linux. This creates a dilemma. On one hand, I don’t want anything intrusive, but at the same time it would be good to teach new users.
While I was looking through today’s Linux news, I came across a post that might just solve the problem. The post pointed to a wallpaper full of terminal commands supposedly for beginners. OK, I don’t think that any newbie needs to know how to ping websites, but the idea is good.
What if when a Linux distribution first booted up it showed the standard wallpaper with some added text giving the user some information about the major differences between Linux and other operating systems and information about how to find additional help. The next time the user booted up, the text could be removed from the wallpaper.
I think this would be an unintrusive way of providing help and assistance to new Linux users. What do you think of it? Would it bother you?