Red Hat: Stick with Windows at home

[Kees]

Matthew Szulik, chief executive of Red Hat, made some unexpected remarks about the choise  'normal home users' should make.

"Red Hat's chief executive has said that Linux needs to mature further before home users will get a positive experience from the operating system, saying they should choose Windows instead."

Read more at ZDNet ...

[Elwood]

So true. That's why Linux is crap compared to Win, from a user point of view.

[zurt]

So TRUE! Linux sux a lot

I prefer Windows than that pile of ####.

zurt
Linukso ne estas la solucio!

[tormedhammaren]

It's good beeing in honest, and this guy is clearly
that. And, it's probably right for 'normal home users'.
But Linux, as he also states, is closing in on them.
And, let's see in a couple of years. Go Tux!

What I don't like about this statement is that M$
might use it as an argument against Linux.

[odin]

I agree fully :-). Tried Linux a couple of times, but never liked it.

[Magic-Merl]

Is this guy nearing retirement or what.  What would we all say if suddenly the world was being told "to buy Windows, at the moment - don't even consider OS4 - it isn't good enough."

Not going to happen just yet, but how many of us would invest our money into buying the OS in the first place?

Is it just me!!!!!!!

[Kees]

I think its pretty stupid that a CEO of a company says 'don't use our product' ...

[carls]

I think he has a valid point.
My parents have a hard time using Windows - "Why can't I install this application by just copying the .exe file? Why must I do this and that to connect a digital camera to my computer? Why is this program slow?"

They are not untechnical - my father is an engineer, has worked as a physics and chemistry teacher, and has built his own radio. He knows his way with a soldering iron and has no trouble with etching circuit boards. He's very old-school :-)

However, he doesn't see the computer as hobbyist paraphenalia at all. It is above all a tool for everyday work: Writing letters, paying the bills and comparing prices before buying a new household appliance.

Now, imagine he was running Linux. First of all, he's got to install it. Swap partition - what's that? Do I need a web server? Should I use a KDE or Gnome desktop, and what the heck IS KDE and Gnome? Why does the web browser look different from the wordprocessor? Why do I have to log in?

With Windows, he can basically just slide a CD in the drive and click "Install", and still he wants me to do it for him :-)

[redrumloa]

... And with XP it is finally starting to approach stable... Slow but stable..

[BouncingAyatollah]

I'm surprised he said this but I think it could ultimately have a beneficial effect. I imagine some linux fanatics will be so up in arms about this that it might generate a "right, we'll show him!" type of response.

I think the IT industry is in a sorry state considering it is nearly 2004. I simply could not pick a "2nd favourite OS" in the opinion poll, because Windows, say, is pretty intuitive, with some terrific apps, but so obviously dated and clunky with the way the underlying stuff works (or doesn't). Linux is technically fantastic but has you pulling your hair out when you hit the common RTFM brickwall about something where you know exactly what you WANT to do and then hit the 200 page long document which could really be 20 pages. BeOS it seems was superb and was deliberately killed. Macs, ewwww, never liked 'em, but to be honest haven't tried MacOS X. I think AmigaOS et al will take some time (maybe a year or so) to mature to properly embrace mainstream technologies.

So that leaves ... errr, nothing (truly satisfying).

As he said though, linux needs to get to that level of simplicity for broad appeal, and it will. AmigaOS etc. have the appeal of simplicity already and need to play "catch up".

[Magic-Merl]

Carls - Correct.  You have a point.

But this is the CEO of a direct competitor of Microsoft and AOS4.  Surely if there is any member of Red Hat that has the power to make his version of Linux more accessible etc. Then he is the man.  Sometimes you need someone at the helm with the ability to push the software forward.  If he isn't prepared to make a decision of that magnitude then maybe he shouldn't be in the position he is currently.

All in all.  A stupid statement to make. Don't whinge about your software being crap.  Whinge at the staff who are  developing the crap software.

He has just pushed the self destruct button.

[cecilia]

i enjoy using linux - using mostly Quanta and gimp.
i don't do everything and i know a little something about computers so i'm not exactly an "average" user.

most people are totally clueless about computers. so, yes, for them they need an OS which is so easy to use it is invisable.

the only OS that really fits that description is amiga/MorphOS. and that isn't quite "perfect", but at least it's not a horror.

looking forward to the day when it IS perfect.  :-D

[Seehund]

I think its pretty stupid that a CEO of a company says 'don't use our product' ...

But the product "Red Hat Linux" will no longer be made. Red Hat Enterprise Linux is where it's at.

I agree that it's odd, to say the least, to publicly say something like Szulik did. It's almost the same as saying "we failed with Red Hat Linux, and I don't know why other distributors still bother".

But he's right. Linux-on-the-desktop can't currently offer what Windows can to those "I just wanna read my e-mail, plug in my [whatever_cool_gadget] and it'll just work, and play the occasional game" users that he's talking about here.

Meanwhile, those of us who want Linux on our desktop systems will have the Fedora project if we prefer a Red Hat-ish distro.

[Seehund]

most people are totally clueless about computers. so, yes, for them they need an OS which is so easy to use it is invisable.

the only OS that really fits that description is amiga/MorphOS. and that isn't quite "perfect", but at least it's not a horror.

I don't agree that (Red Hat) Linux is difficult to use, once it's installed and configured. I'd argue that RHL with GNOME/KDE is a hell of a lot easier to understand for the average Windows user, than e.g. AmigaOS/MorphOS.

Szulik recommends Windows to those people because of the driver situation, plus the basic computer/Linux knowledge required for installation/configuration.

His 90-year-old Windows using dad would probably have a harder time finding the "IBrowse" icon (and then wonder why web sites look like crap and why he can't see those purdy animations that everybody else can see), than he would have clicking the GNOME menu and choose the item called "The Mozilla web browser" (and everything renders just like on his pals' Windows boxes).

When he plugs in his non-supported digital camera to see the photos from the old folks home's picnic, he'll be just as confused when nothing happens in both Amiga-/MorphOS as in Linux. And why doesn't anything happen when he inserts the CD that came with the camera? Why can't he get "Grand Theft Wheelchair 3" to run?

[Tomas]

why did he not promote osx instead? clearly that is a better OS than windows.. kinda weird of redhat to suddently back off like this, since they have been promoting linux on desktop for such a long time now.. kinda a big slap in the face to the other linux distros also.. i guess redhat got greedy... they see much more money on the enterprise side and clearly do not want to see any other linux distros profit on the desktop side, since they obiousely failed there.