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0 pointsnooneelse14y ago0 comments

But it is possible in the free software domain, for your new-Gnome hating wife to read a blog or article about other people who also hate new-Gnome and who have put together, or suggest, an alternative. That alternative can be as little work for her as installing something else from the package manager (which can be at the skill level of a search and point and click).

This doesn't take skill in programming, no more than (in the venerable tradition of car metaphors) it takes mechanical skil to know that the dealer can install the leather seat or roof-rack options for your car if you request that of them.

You drastically understate the percentage of people who have alternatives to choose from at their skill level.

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Tyrannosaurs14y ago

Yes and no.

I think you're over estimating how IT literate my wife and many others are. I bought her a MacBook because she used to shout at the PC too much.

And it's not just her. My mum wouldn't get a Mac as she didn't want to have to relearn Windows. My aunty had Linux installed by one of her sons on her PC (for security reasons) and couldn't do a thing (another one returned it to Windows so she could go back to reading her mail and looking at the funny things her friends sent her). And before anyone asks about how all these examples are about women, my father is so IT illiterate I can't even form a coherent example of his lack of knowledge because there's so little of it (though he still surfs the web and looks at his photos).

For these people the idea that you'd go and look for an alternative is a pretty big stretch and that's before you ask whether they actually have the skills to carry out a proper assessment of what is available, what meets their needs, what's robust, what's actively developed (a major consideration in the FOSS world) and so on to make a choice. And even if they do do all that suddenly a major part of their world changes and there is (for them) a major investment in relearning how things work.

If you've got the skills and genuinely worry about these things then I agree FOSS is great but for a massive, massive number of people they just want something basic that makes some sensible choices they can live with and get on with doing stuff. Right now that's a need FOSS is doing little to meet.