Comments on: Understanding the Common User: Everything should be as simple as it is

By: zugu

zugu — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:59:51 +0000

I’ve grown tired of seeing these kinds of articles.

Honestly, why does everyone assume only idiots use Windows?

I consider myself a power user, because people come to me to ask for advice when their computer breaks and because I installed and used many operating systems other than Windows.

But I don’t have to be an idiot in order to see where Linux is failing. After one year of using Ubuntu (more or less advertised as one of the easiest Linux distributions around) on my desktop I had grown tired of configuring things, tired of searching forums, tired of looking for alternatives to alternatives. Windows XP is just less time-consuming. I have never had problems with it, because I’m not an idiot and I don’t click on the dancing monkey to win $1M.

Linux is best if your time values nothing.

By: Kirt

Kirt — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:54:37 +0000

Great article. With too many Linux ‘promoters’, the last thing in the post or article or insult that makes any sense at all to CU is “all you have to do is”. People are stupid, which is not their fault. It’s your fault for pretending they’re not.

By: yash

yash — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 11:21:52 +0000

Good article!

I like two lines above- clear, interesting and truly prevailing into the GNU/Linux environment.

We should accept the fact that some people are not enthusiastic about using computers.

Linux is great. “Linux advocates aren’t.

By: nix

nix — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 05:04:35 +0000

Actually I needed that read…. Users are just users…. Time to time; people (geeks) may need to be reminded.

By: xivulon

xivulon — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:34:04 +0000

Wubi (http://wubi-installer.org) is a good start…

By: Munra

Munra — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:05:07 +0000

Excelent article.

The CU does not use a “web browser” at all. He uses “the Internet”. The Common User does not run a communications application but “MSN” or “Yahoo”. He doesn’t use a mail client. He facilitates mailing services through the Internet (read: he simply clicks on the mail icons in the web mail interface). He doesn’t use any multimedia players but Winamp, etc. (A small lexicon could be made that way.)

really good. and the CU people, don’t feel the necessity of use the “Great” linux or even a “Great” Mac, because they don’t “need” or don’t know that maybe need something different.

But it’s true that maybe if wasn’t created windows the people, the CU people just don’t know the internet or the yahoo or winamp.

By: Olivier

Olivier — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:56:20 +0000

Brilliant article. I sometimes wondered if I was the only one around thinking like this… This is well explained and I simply wish more GNU/Linux people would read about this.

By: Alex Bogak

Alex Bogak — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:02:23 +0000

Hey, it’s an interesting article, but I have to ask: isn’t the author is being too edgy? Too extreme?

I’m all in favor of providing the best user experience possible, but I don’t agree that it has to be idiot-targeted. I mean it has to be simple and intuitive, such as TV or VCR (Tivo ), but not too simple, as simplicity causes complexity.

Besides, computer literacy is being addressed all the time, so I’m sure much more people would know how to use a computer in a short while, as today’s children grow with it.

So, simplify, but don’t oversimplify.

Users are not stupid. They are just unfamiliar with technology.