Savanna's Profile

i *totally* agree: the phone *sucks*! and i mean *sucks*. god how could jobs agree to be embarassed by that thing on stage? it's fugly is what it is. and the nano is *beautiful*. i agree: you're right. i bet we're looking at nano-craziness now, and the 'phone' will be quietly forgotten. there's no way that jobs could ever have thought that thing would actually take off....no way. i mean, you ever see steve jobs? he looks like a walking apple ad. could you imagine him pulling that phone out and using it in public? no way. nooooooo way! he wouldn't use it, and neither will i! =) ipod nano on the other hand....*purr*..... =)

I'm a Mac OS X user. And, I also used to write for KDE News - look me up under "Savanna Says". So you could say I'm a fan of both, okay? =) My happy enthusiasm for Linux/KDE never faded, even though I no longer review things for them due to total lack of time. But, I really think I should speak out here because something struck me during this entire argument, and it's this: The only people that are posting responses are people who actually know what the heck a "distro" is. Perhaps that should *give them a clue* - they *aren't* your regular users. In fact, I saw lots of posts on LinuxToday (and my articles have been posted there in the past so I know how tetchy they can be) which mentions that fact: regular users are *clueless*. I know this and regular users know this, and everyone knows this. I think that they are proving this article's point though, just by showing that the people who are arguing about all this crap are *not* regular users. That's why this article is correct in a way. It's totally on the mark and, even as a KDE/Linux fan, I have to say he's totally dead on with this. Now, it may be that Linux developers don't *want* it to go that way, but then they should say so and stop pretending with distros that they care about the average consumer. It's totally obvious they don't in many respects. Anyone you talk to on the street won't know what the heck a "library" is, or a "distro", or what the heck "ubuntu" or "KDE" is, and there's a good reason for that. It doesn't have to do with what gets installed on their system either, because even with Windows, they don't know what the heck a "DLL File" or "cache" is. I have friends who don't know that Email is on the same connection as "The Internet" (or "The Web"). Duh. It's got nothing to do with what they use at the office and everything to do with how easy something is to use. I mean, some Linux guy posted about how MS people cry over how their development tools suck and how everyone will switch because of web development. No they won't, and stop being so silly. Web Development? I dare anyone to walk out into the street and ask the guy selling shoes, newspapers, or the cop on the corner what the heck he thinks "Web Development" is. It's 2005, and most people have no clue that "Internet Explorer" isn't "The Internet", even though it says it is on the XP Desktop. Switching because of development tools? Dream on! I'm not saying Mac is better because it's easier to use, or that XP is either. Like I said: I love KDE. =) But there is no way in *hell* that Linux will ever become a standard desktop for regular users until these issues are addressed. And if the point is not to make Linux like that, then maybe they should make a public move to state that this isn't the goal. And *don't* tell me that the OS isn't a single voice. I know there isn't a single person controlling Linux, but there could be some sort of debate about it. As far as I know, there isn't any debate about it. And if there has been, all of us "regular users" (blondes like me), haven't heard squat. And we haven't seen squat either, or there would be a lot of hype about switching to Linux. I know friends of mine who haven't even *heard* of Linux. So when you spout off with numbers about CPU speed tests, or who controls what aspect of a desktop, or what the average load time is of Apache on a Mac vs. a Linux box, please understand: you're proving his point. *Regular* users don't know squat about that, and they don't care. That's his point (at least how *I* read it), and that's what he's saying: all that arguing crap is what is getting in the way. Now, I've talked to the KDE devs of several apps lots of times, and I *know* how they think. I know they're awesome and fun people and they love their private little universe, but when I ask if something could be made simpler, they answer back with a line of code and totally question why I wouldn't actually understand that as second nature. I remember I once asked why there wasn't a graphical package installer in KDE (at the time) and they totally laughed at me because they wondered how much more simple apt-get could get! Cluebat time: command line? What the heck is that? I have to *TYPE* commands into a computer? Didn't that go out with the *mouse*? (Average user speaking here) So laugh at the article all you like, but your responses flaming him for it only prove that he's right, and you're wrong: Linux isn't ready for the average person and it doesn't look like many developer attitudes are either. Again, I'm not saying that Linux *should* change, or be the one to "step up to the plate", but he's got a point and you all should own up to it and quit bitching at him because he happens to like Macs. That's the same crap that Microsoft Devs pull about "Linux Zealots", and you know it. I thought Linux people were better than that. Flame me all you want: i'm still on savanna@KDEnews.org. =) P.S. I was gonna post this on LinuxToday, but I figured I'd directly support the author here. Sue me. =P