Windows Tips and Tricks

Many PC users would be willing to try out an alternative operating system but are afraid they might mess up their regular system. There are several ways to run other operating systems without disturbing Windows or other primary operating system. One method is to use virtual machines but most home users would probably consider that alternative more than they want to deal with.

However, many Linux distros come in a version that can be run off of a CD or a USB thumb drive. I have long suggested one of these as an emergency repair disk. But you can go further and have a portable system with your favorite applications and settings that you can carry anywhere and run on other computers without ever affecting the main system. Or if you just want to see what all the discussion of the Ubuntu OS is about you can try Ubuntu on an external removable medium without fear of doing damage to the regular system. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes gives some details of how to do this.

Although it has many virtues, even Ubuntu Linux has made little progress in being adopted by home PC users. The geeks may sing its praises but the average, non-technical user is still too often baffled by it. Part of the reason is the Linux reliance on the command line. Now, I love the command line as much as anybody- I even have a Web site about it. But the typical home user is all GUI, all the time so the command line is a non-starter. And there are other areas where Linux is still too much for the home user.

To illustrate the obstacles Linux faces in trying for a share of the desktop business, there is an interesting post at The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment. The author used his girl friend to test how user-friendly Ubuntu is. The lady in question is no novice at computers and a university philosophy student so she is a cut or two above many home PC users in computer skills; yet she had problems. As the author concludes:

Linux won’t truly be ready for the desktop until someone computer illiterate can sit down at a the computer and with little effort do what they want to do. Erin’s intelligent, quick to learn and is reasonably well-acquainted with modern technology. If she had as much trouble as she did, what chance to the elderly or at least the middle-aged stand?

Personally, I would reword the last sentence in the quote to ask, “What chance does Linux have with the millions of non-technical home users?” Maybe Ubuntu will keep evolving and become more practical. I certainly hope so, for the need to have alternatives to the Windows monopoly is very clear.

Follow-up: Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, who makes frequent posts about Ubuntu, has also noted the experiment discussed above and comments:

I’ve long thought that part of the reason why Linux hasn’t made much progress in terms of picking up novice users is that many distros suffers from a geek overload. Now there’s no doubt that things have improved dramatically over the past couple of years and distros such as Ubuntu are especially user friendly for novices, but I’ve hit plenty of tar pits myself to know that Linux doesn’t equal plain sailing.

Any Linux users out there want to comment?