“I’m not the typical Linux columnist. For while I applaud the
goal of freedom and the effort toward that goal, I also must be
honest and say that I see a very steep hill to climb if Linux is to
join the mainstream and be a serious contestant in the
OS-for-the-masses war. Yes, I understand that Linux is making
serious inroads into the server market. Yes, I understand that it’s
a wonderfully robust system that will probably run for millennia
without crashing. Yes, yes, yes. You understand, and I understand.
But you know what it means in the big scheme of things that we
tech-heads understand? Nothing. Zip. If the real goal is to
free the computer world from the stranglehold, then Joe Q.
I-Just-Wanna-Check-My-Email absolutely and positively must be the
focus.“
“To make my point, let’s delve a bit deeper into the mind of Joe
where computers are concerned. Joe, being the uninformed non-techie
that he is, thinks the following:
- Memory and hard drives are the same thing.
- AOL is the Internet.
- RAM is a pickup truck made by Dodge.
- He did his stint in the military and had his fill of
commands. - An OS is, well, uh, he has no idea what an OS is.”