Mathieu you make a good point in your email. People don't want to make a rational choice. I live in Brazil and I was thinking that in the USA and Europe things would be different. Here in Brazil we can buy a computer - cheap or not - as they say "configured", that is: with MS installed and all the things ready to use. Obsviously, withou any license. To me this is a cultural problem: if the mam in the shop say that I can have a computer - or laptop - ready and not pay so much, that's ok! I am a teatcher of philosophy. I teach philosophy to IT courses in the university (private) every semester is the same thing: why did I have to think? My course is about computer and webcommerce. Linux?Oh, nobody use linux in a desktop! I am using Linux since 2003. Actually I am using Fedora because I dont Know how to make a HP f4480 scanner works, only the printer. I use Centos and Scientificlinux for years, before I buy this HP thing. But I make my "rational" choice: scanner or insecurity? Well, as I am not a very important person and have no secrets, I can use some insecure OS. Scuse for my rough english. Best wishes Arturo Em Sex, 2010-10-08 às 09:46 +0200, Mathieu Baudier escreveu: > > The main thing about Linux that is 'hard' is the fact that you have to > > use your brain and make choices: Which web browser? Which office suite? > > Which email client? Which desktop? Which Linux distro? For lots of > > people this is way too much work. I guess if these people looked at, > > I think that you raise an important point here, but I would rather > relate it to a question of "education". > > People simply don't know that there are alternatives, or that this > alternatives are manageable. They are not "educated" to consider the > OS and their software ecosystem as something that can be configured > and tweaked (I don't say that everybody should hack the kernel). > > I am always puzzled when I talk to non technical people that, while > everybody knows what is an Excel spreadsheet, almost nobody knows > precisely what is a database. Or what are the roles and relationships > between CPU + memory + disk. Or how does a website work, etc. People > now spend their lives dealing with a DB, a computer or a website, and > it takes less than one hour to explain how they work! (I did it many > times and people are always very eager to know it) > > We spend years learning how to read and write, but we could not spend > a few hours as kids learning what *is* a computer and what it can do? > (I don't talk about learning how to open a browser, download from > iTunes or fill a spreadsheet). > > I really don't think that MS Windows or Mac or Ubuntu or CentOS are > better or less good for desktop in general (CentOS better suits my > personal needs). Same for iPhone vs. Blackberry vs. Android for mobile > devices. > > When I discuss this with other people, I therefore don't try to > convince them, but I just want to make sure that they are aware of > which tradeoffs they are doing: versatility vs. security, nice design > vs. freeedom, works-out-of-the-box vs. > works-not-out-of-the-box-but-after-this-has-been-properly-configured-will-always-work-perfectly > (eh, eh, that's what I like with my CentOS desktop). > > People are of course free to give up (some) freedom, I just wish they > would do it consciously. > _______________________________________________ > CentOS mailing list > CentOS at centos.org > http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos