Microsoft

[Tony Alfrey]

Roger Oberholtzer wrote:

<snip>

> But I
> suggest that MS's perceived ease of use is more just that the stuff gets
> used so much. All the oddities have become assimilated into how people
> work. Take a newbie and set then loose with Word, and I am very doubtful
> if they will fine it more intuitive than OpenOffice.

I could not agree more.  I have a friend of a friend who switched from 
MS to a Mac and kicked and screamed for a month that things operated in 
unexpected ways.  She listed a half-dozen reasons why the Mac was better 
than her MS/PC, but threw a fit because some app (a mail client or 
whatever) acted differently than on the MS/PC.  People have come to 
expect that a computer *is* an MS box.

<snip>
> 
> I am very hesitant to concede that the MS interfaces are so very good
> and are in any way a reason for market penetration.

It is hard to beat the steamroller when every corporate IT group 
instinctively "upgrades" every box in the organization to Vista.  It 
clearly cannot have anything to do with the user interface.

<snip>
> 
> So, perhaps Linux needs to recruit GUI developers in much the same way
> it does for coding. A person who can make a nice GUI must surely be as
> interested in sharing this as is an open source programmer. Having said
> that, I think some of the bigger Linux projects are doing this. As well
> as graphic artists and writers.

I hope so.

> 
> Give it time.
> 
>> just my .05
> 
> Just my 3 SEK.
> 


-- 
Tony Alfrey
tonyalfrey at earthlink.net
"I'd Rather Be Sailing"