Silly Rabbit, Linux is for Noobs!

A consistently hot topic is Linux adoption–when it will reach a majority, what should be done to encourage it, and who should adopt it.

The first part is easy, it will be the year <insert name of upcoming year here>. The second part…I don’t really have a strong opinion on, because the third part is related but more important.

Andrew Min made the point, in his article “Why games are the key to Linux adoption”, that the people to convert to Linux are gamers. CNET agreed, and ArsTechnica just released a related and encouraging article. When I first read all that, I was like “Dude! That is so true! Excellent call!” But now that I’ve thought about it, I have one problem: The title’s too short–it should read “Why games are part of the key to Linux adoption”. Because as important a market share as gamers are, and as much as they would raise Linux’s profile, there’s a very important type of person left out:

Your common, technically inept, noob.

You know the type–uses a computer for emai (kindly provided by either AOL or their cable company), minor documents and maybe a bit of web surfing. No high-powered games. No business-critical apps. Just Outlook (/Express), Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. In short: perfect for Linux.

Time for some evidence.

Modern Linux (especially Ubuntu) is ridiculously simple. Burn the CD (which, as the hardest part, has the easy shortcuts of “buy one” or “order Ubuntu for free from ShipIt!”), boot off CD, follow easy graphical prompts, go and make a cup of tea while the installer formats your hard drive and copies several gigabytes onto it, come back, follow intuitive menu, launch required apps, done.

Anti-virus? No need. Spyware? Nonexistent. Routine system maintenance? Not necessary. Bloat? Nada.

Granted, OpenOffice.org (or Abiword) are not quite as powerful as MS Office. And sure, Evolution/Thunderbird aren’t quite as powerful as Outlook/Outlook Express. But for common tasks–who really cares? It’s not like soccer moms are writing research papers, or syncing with Exchange.

And I can personally guarantee that both the amount of tech support calls, and the number of “Honeeeeeeeey! Why did the computer just do that!?”s will decrease.

The one problem is that it’s new. And it requires learning something different. And if only geeks talk about it, you must need to be one to be able to “work it.” But if mainstream OEMs make enough pre-installed Linux boxes, and enough geeks convert their parents, Linux won’t be new, it’ll be “That thing with the funny African name that all the normal people use.”, handily replacing “What’s an operating system? Oh, well I don’t use a Mac.” And after it spreads a bit more, Windows will be “that expensive thing that gamers and business executives and weird people use on their computers. I’m glad I don’t have it–it seems like it keeps breaking for them.”