[ale] weird mouse problem

[Jerald Sheets]

On Sep 9, 2010, at 8:56 AM, Jim Kinney wrote:

> I must strenuously disagree with the idea that Linux is not good for general users.  
> 

The thing, I think, on this topic that we (the geeks) continue to miss is that to the average user, the computer is the applications.

The *average* Joe-sixpack, Walmart shopper user will want to walk in the back door of WalMart, walk up to the video game rack and purchase the coed naked warcraft on ice video game, bring it home, insert disc, install app, and then off to wintry nudie wonderland of gaming goodness.

For Joe Sixpack, that does not happen on Linux, therefore it is not superior (to an end-user) to other options out there.  
To be fair to the players in this argument, it doesn't happen in the Mac world all that much either.  With the exception of a few forward-looking companies like Blizzard, Mac gaming is just not there yet.

You and I agree completely that Linux is a superior operating system with many options for superior experiences.  Heck, Linus himself uses a Macbook Pro running Linux.  The thing we as tech-nerds must remember, though, is that WE ARE NOT THE MAJORITY and we never will be.

If by "average user", however, ALL you mean is email, browsing, etc.   Then by that redefinition of what an average user is, I agree with you completely. 

Thing is, just how many people will only do that?  Seriously... My mom had a small Linux box I made for her and was peachy happy for over a year (and I could SSH into the thing and fix stuff just by getting her to click an icon that emailed me her IP, or in the event that email wasn't working, she could click a different icon and have it display to her so she could read it to me.  Worked GREAT.

Eventually, though, $WORK wanted her to take a training class that only worked on Windows.  Next, they sent home training cd's that only ran under windows.  (or Mac, but they didn't know that).  Ultimately, if mom was retired, we wouldn't have had that situation, but as long as "Mom" has other influences like $WORK or $STORE offering all manner of things that take tech-nerds like ourselves to be present to run (or are not able to run at all), Linux is not the superior OS for the situation at hand for $USER who is in that situation.

Unfortunately for our community, I just described more than 50% of the user base out there.

I think Jim is right as it pertains to the true average user.  If by average user you mean someone who just needs email and YouTube, then you're right.

--j



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