[NCLUG] Anecdotal Research Question

Bob Proulx bob at proulx.com
Sun Jul 3 10:28:08 MDT 2011


Jason Mealler wrote:
> I realize this is a very broad topic ...
> ... and will appreciate any input you can provide.

Your goal is laudable but people are people and will have strong
attachments and opinions.  If this were a club of car enthusiasts and
you were to ask for a car recommendation you wouldn't be surprised
people to be strongly Ford or strongly Chevy biased.  And others would
expound the virtues of the classic VW Beetle.  And so on.  One day I
will own a Jeep. :-) I think the new car driver / owner would benefit
greatly from owning a classic VB Beetle.  It is easy to work on and
learn how cars work.  That learning will help them as they become more
adept.  Do I drive a Beetle today?  No, I have a Ford.

Here is an idea that I think might be more useful.  Perhaps instead
ask new users what they like and dislike about FLOSS software and why.
For example I always cringe when a user says, "I installed distro X
but couldn't find a decent editor and so installed distro Y because it
included editor ABC."  I am always aghast, they picked a distro for
some particular application!  Wow.  But they do.  In the previous days
it used to be that people picked a distribution based upon the
installer, such as if a particular installer used the mouse or used
the keyboard.  But pretty much all have mouse installer options these
days.  But you get the idea of the problem.  For another example look
at how many people think that Kubuntu is somehow completely different
from Ubuntu simply because it is defaulted to a different window
manager?  Newbies have quite different needs at startup then the more
experienced.  I think they might really need a OLPC preinstalled.

Bob



More information about the NCLUG mailing list