[ale] Chinese government recommendation - Linux

[tfreeman at intel.digichem.net (Tom Freeman)]

+2 or +3 or possibly more

Sad to say, most human beings of my acquaintance seem to operate on the 
level of "I learned how to do <<something>> with this <<application>> why 
should I learn how to do more? Or different? Or whatever?

Then when you also suspect that most people seem to have learned 
procedures and not underlying patterns of those proceedures - good luck 
with any change.

It only took us four siblings two years to convert our mother from 
WordStar on a KayPro II to a MacSE because the Mac didn't have the 
WordStar diamond. Now this is a woman with degrees in French, Music, and 
Education - so I don't quite think a love of ignorance is the basic 
problem. With every new word processor forced on her (more by Apple than 
her children - we still have scars from the first effort) there are loud 
fits and furies, and much complaining about how the technologiests/geeks 
of the world have made it harder not easier.

I'd love to be a bug on the wall watching somebody attempt to get her 
functional with a music editor for her harpsichord music! Or to get 
computer support of the embroidery she does. Although I suspect even that 
bug on the wall will deserve combat pay...


On Mon, 19 May 2014, Lightner, Jeff wrote:

> 
> Are you the ONE who is tasked with transitioning people in your organization
> from iPhone to Droid? ??Are you the one that migrated users from Windows 95
> to Windows XP or from XP to 7??? If not then being pedantic about ?easy? is
> meaningless.? You seem to think I?m arguing that migrating to Linux is a bad
> idea which I?m not.? I?m arguing that just because IT types think something
> is ?easy? for themselves does NOT mean it is ?easy? for end users.?? Arguing
> about the degree of ?easy? is specious at best when I?ve continually said
> that it is ?change? not the ?specific change? that is resisted.
> 
> ?
> 
> However, using your example I know that KDE is NOT as ?easy? as you say
> because I?ve seen many a question by Linux folks specifically about using
> KDE (or Gnome or Unity or?).?? Even if it WERE that ?easy? to you or me it
> does not mean it is to the average end user.
> 
> ?
> 
> Years ago I learned a valuable lesson when I was taking accounting 101 in an
> evening class.?? Each class the professor would give us things to do (e.g.
> make a P&L or a balance sheet or just a simple T chart) to be ready for the
> next class.?? Before class several of us got together in the student lounge
> and would go over the solutions we?d come up with.? Usually when they?d ask
> me I?d start out by saying ?It?s easy I just ??.?? Finally one woman said to
> me ?It may be ?easy? for a god like you but for us mere mortals it actually
> takes some effort.?? Up until then it had never occurred to me that everyone
> didn?t find something as logical as double entry accounting seemed to me to
> be ?easy?.? ?In fact I later found out most folks took Accounting 2-3 times
> before finally eking by with a passing grade because to them it is ?hard?.
> 
> ?
> 
> Another lesson I learned was back in the days when electronic cash registers
> became computerized.?? One guy I worked with could NOT get the ?cash
> register? to work because he ?didn?t know anything about computers?.?? He
> had this attitude because the new register had a tiny CRT screen on it.? No
> matter how hard I tried to explain to him that he wasn?t actually dealing
> with the ?computer? aspect of it I couldn?t get through his head that it was
> just as ?easy? as the ?cash register? he?d been using before.? (This was
> before touch screens so it still used the same type of keys the old ?cash
> register? had and still used the hard copy guest checks the previous
> register did.)
> 
> ?
> 
> There IS a real world resistance to change and arguing that something is
> ?easy? because YOU think it is does not change the fact that it may NOT be
> ?easy? to the individuals to whom you?re trying to push the change.
> 
> ?
> 
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Wolf
> Halton
> Sent: Monday, May 19, 2014 1:51 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: Re: [ale] Chinese government recommendation - Linux
> 
> ?
> 
> If they figured out an iPhone or a Droid phone, they can figure out the
> Linux desktop.? It is less of a jump from XP to KDE than from XP to Windows
> 7, and the Ubuntu desktop is very similar to Win 8.? Actually, I think that
> there is less disruption from Windows 7 to KDE than from Windows 7 to
> Windows 8 (or even 8.1).?
> 
> 
> Wolf Halton
> 
> --
> This Apt Has Super Cow Powers - http://sourcefreedom.com
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> 
> ?
> 
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> 
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