Hi people,
A few days ago my computer vendor came to me with some real problems regarding Linux. Hes a small time guy who supplies assembled PCs to individuals and maybe some small companies. Anyway, he owns an office and himself is pissed off with Microsoft's products as he has to format the machines every other day.
Another reason pushing him towards Linux is that hes now getting inquiries regarding installing Linux from home users. And Vista cracks are not yet stable and widely available :P After having a small chat with him, I got his requirements.
For office use, he requires:
1. Microsoft Office - docs and excel spreadsheets 2. Internet Explorer - surfing / banking etc.. 3. Tally - accounting
Now, I'm aware that he has the following alternatives:
1. Open office 2. Firefox 3. Tally ( Linux version )
But the problem with Open Office:
1. With average machines, it performs slow 2. The documents it generates are not 100% compatible with Ms.Office 3. Advanced features are not completely compatible
But they need to inter-operate with the rest of the world which means a good compatibility is important.
Another problems that one generally faces is that Linux doesn't always work out of the box. When it does, it works wonderfully well but when it comes down to tweaking it to get it to work, its like performing a brain surgery ( for a newbie ).
One more issue that I perceive is that distros don't always have good hardware compatibility. Let me explain it in more detail. Ubuntu 6.06 worked well on my friend's machine. No issues. But Ubuntu 7.04 refuses to work on the same machine. Some driver compatibility issues.
The other issue that people in India generally face is of bandwidth. Ubuntu installs well. It impresses them. But then it runs up HUGE bills downloading softwares.
What are your thoughts on this? How can we work with these people to effective push Linux into homes and offices? This definitely is one of the best ways of boosting Linux user base :)