Good article, but it misses the one issue that keeps me with a windows machine, as well as my wife...
Productivity Software - as in Outlook, Excel, Access, and to a lesser extent, PowerPoint and Word. Sure, I have heard of OpenOffice, I even use it from time to time, but guess what - it isn't 100% in all cases. For example, certain PowerPoint features like custom animation effects, embedded MS objects, etc, don't always work, or don't always work as expected. And, if you need to work with some Excel-based app that has screwy macros and such, well, it may or may not work. By the way, this holds true for MS apps on Macintosh as well.
But before you offer the typical advice of: "you can get the same result if you do it this way", try explaining that to someone who already knows how to use what is already on the PC and who only cares about having a successful presentation at a public hearing where the audience is already unhappy to be in attendance in the first place. One misstep and you are screwed!
Yes, you guessed it - the FUD factor. Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. And yes, if you already have M$, and you already know how to use the bundled tools that often come with it (because M$ is bundled with the hardware), then why would you go looking for something that takes effort to do what you already know how to do?
Oh and yes, I think having to decide "what Linux" is just frosting on the Linux cake!
I know lots 'o folks who have heard about Linux and are interested in it, and that it is free. As soon as the begin to realize that they may have to understand what video card they have, or that they may have to tweak their favorite MS Access application to get it t work with XXX, well, they have already made the decision to not change.
Most people think of a PC as a tool only. Sigh.
Steve
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Stephen C. Daukas
Engineer, Geoscientist,
Environmental Analyst
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