Journal: Dick and Jane go Computing

Dick and Jane want a computer that they can easily set up and run without being programming geniuses or wannabe systems administrators. They want to surf the web, read and write email, maybe write some letters. They'd like to play games, share photographs of little Johnny and the dogs, and play some music. They want to organize their household accounts and maybe operate their bank accounts from home. If Jane is on the local PTA, maybe she wants to write minutes of the meetings and create notices for jumble sales and coffee mornings.

Does it matter to Dick and Jane that Linux is more efficient, more reliable and more stable than Windows? Do they care that their shiny new Penguinized PC could have an uptime of a couple of years? Does it matter to them that Linux is essentially free, and they can configure it pretty much any way they want? No.

What does matter is that Windows is easy to use, is reliable enough for basic home use, works with the latest hardware and supports a whole bunch of games. Windows doesn't change depending on which store you buy it from, and it probably comes preinstalled anyway. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it's good enough. Yes, perhaps they agree that Microsoft operates some dubious business tactics from time to time, but how does that affect them directly?

Would they switch to Linux? Probably not, and here's why:

Who do you call for help? Which one of the sixteen different IRC clients should you install? What happens if you decide not to install Kanji terminal software? Is Mozilla better than Konqueror/Opera/Netscape? What's this Lynx thing? Why do I have to choose between seven different desktops? Do I need all this 4Gb of software?

Get Dick and Jane converted, and then all your desktops belong us. How can this be done?

Quit offering bloated distributions with fourteen mail clients, eight different text editors, half dozen browsers and weird desktop interfaces. Give something simple, clean, easy to install and easier to use without any previous exposure to non-Windows computers. Adopt a standard for basic things like the filesystem hierarchy. Get some direction into software development, and create a viable, useful, bloat-free and intuitive alternative to MS Office. The world does not need yet another email client, but it desperately needs an OSS office suite comparable to MS Office.

And that's the problem with the OSS/GPL model. There isn't anyone to compel developers to work with focus on a single project. Microsfot employs ( = pays) people to develop specific pieces of software, the OSS model does not. Unless similar direction and focus can be given, it is less likely that OSS will become significant on the desktop. Volunteers, anyone?