So guys, i previously was signed in a forum that has been merged in this one. It’s years i follow these fora but i’ve never seen such a lot of newbies like these times. Is it a sign the linux community is reaching the point of on return on the mass users? Considering that linux is a personal choice i have to think that the subliminal advertising has been very strong. Your opinion?
never seen such a lot of newbies like these times.
IMHO Linux is getting easier to install & run, which attracts more “newbies” I think…and that’s good!
I think you also have to consider the fact that there has just been a new release, and I think that attracts ‘newcomers’…
I was attracted by the merging of the forums; with so many to choose from before, I did not know which one to sign up to - so I didn’t sign up to anything.
Curious: What do you think of the merger now?
Maybe i was not clear enough. I like and appreciate this forum. Simply i’m asking to myself if the reason of the growing number (at my eyes) of newbies is a bigger number of members or linux is going to be really a mainstream os. For me we are going to a point of no return really and i like it! This is the reason why i use to give answers to anyone declares himself a newbie! And also it is the reason why i install for free linux for everyone is curious. This is my way to promote it. You know back in the 70’s nearly everything was open source so i am really in love with this idea!
bcrisciotti wrote:
>
> So guys, i previously was signed in a forum that has been merged in this
> one. It’s years i follow these fora but i’ve never seen such a lot of
> newbies like these times. Is it a sign the linux community is reaching
> the point of on return on the mass users? Considering that linux is a
> personal choice i have to think that the subliminal advertising has
> been very strong. Your opinion?
I think it’s a combination of things. One, we’re getting more and more
people exposed to all Linuxes, so we get a portion of them here. Two, it’s
been more than a year since Novell and Microsoft signed the infamous
co-operation agreement and the sky hasn’t fallen, so we’re getting less and
less of the anti-everything-touched-by-Novell crowd around. Three, openSUSE
11.0 is a great release and it is MUCH easier and quicker to install than
previous releases. And, lastly, new releases all generate lots of posts by
newbies trying to install something they’re unfamiliar with.
Bob
bob@rsmits.ca (Robert Smits, Ladysmith BC)
“I’m not one of those who think Bill Gates is the devil. I simply suspect
that if Microsoft ever met up with the devil, it wouldn’t need an
interpreter.” - Nicholas Petreley
Some numbers to support your theory:
Right now: 36 members and 758 guests online; Members: 7,430
That usually averages 30 to 80 members and between 800 to 1,500 guests online at any one time (when I’m logged in). Members: are coming aboard at between 70 to 200 per day (my guess).
I agree that many of those are new folks looking to get a great OS installed and everything up and working.
Everyone pitch in and help them out; the next Packman, Guru, Jengelh, etal is among them:)
Are we growing in numbers?
Hmm… Haven’t noticed , although I’m growing in inches (around). oh wait…
Gaaa! I’m starting mitosis!.. I Guess we are growing! 
I don’t know what it was like before but I like to go on a forum where there is something to interest me every other day or so. Here the range of topics covered means I usually find something interesting and the layout is easy enough to navigate; so I don’t end up trawling through lots of things I am not interested in to find the things I am.
I think I assumed that, with the separation of the sites, each was highly specialised and everyone who went on them had a very specific reason to be on them. I have a more general interest in computing and so wasn’t looking for anything specialised.
In the end, the announcement of the merger itself made me curious. So I thought I would take a look. And here I am.
Linux has been making steady strides towards “mainstream” and ease in recent years.
What helps, I’m sure, is Dell selling and supporting Linux installed to consumers and the EeePC to help people think of Linux as something other than a toy and the missteps of Vista.
Another factor, often overlooked is the growing number of computer savvy people growing up who can handle more complicated tasks and are willing to look at alternatives.
Kids these days are growing up with computers and the internet
Well the kids have actually grown up and are now adults with buying power and interest in looking outside the box.
true enough, suse 9.1 was revolutionary for its ease of use, but that pales with comparison against suse today.
Looking Like it, my mate has just made the change with me to OpenSUSE 11, and the lass down the road just bought some diddy laptop and its got SUSE on it. Seems to be popping up everywhere, lots of the students at my college walk around with Linux on a pen drives. I think the biggest problem is getting it on the desktop as an alternative to M$ although Ubuntu seem to be making some ripples with DELL and getting it distributed. I think many people use windows because thats what a PC comes with, many people think that M$ Windows is a pc because they havent seen anything different.
Isn’t that the pain push of IBM, Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat gang up on Vista? To make it more available as an alternative?
Things look good, even if they don’t fully succeed, giving it the run for it is going to make a difference, that’s for sure!
I agree with this.
I also think familiarity with specific applications (and not want to change to a different application) is a big factor.
In my case, I left Win95 for Linux in 1998 (started with Red Hat). I became familiar and happy with the various Linux applications. Win98, 98SE, 98ME were not big temptations (despite their being more stable), as they were not a big change from Win95 enough for me to consider them (and I liked and was used to Linux by then). Plus I did not purchase any new PCs during the Win98, 98SE, 98ME timeframe so I did not have those OS force fed.
Then winXP came out, and was installed by default in a few PCs that my wife and I purchased. However by then, I was used to Linux, and I could not get into using winXP.
I wanted my Linux apps, and I could not directly run my Linux apps on WinXP. I was not knowledgeable enough then to use a Virtual Linux session, and the associated performance hit of a Virtual session did not particularly appeal to me. Plus, I knew enough then to tune my fonts to be as good (if not better) than WinXP, and I much preferred the overall philosophy and structure of Linux. Windoze apps were (and still are) too unfamiliar. I wanted my Linux apps.
Of course there were, and still are other factors why I never liked winXP. … Susceptibility to virus and the proprietary/closed nature of most applications (and of the OS) was a major factor in me disliking winXP.
I’d say part of it is OpenSuse 11 is superior to 10. I used 10 for a short time and didn’t like it, sticking with Ubuntu. Well I tried out 11 and I’m a convert. On distrowatch.com OpenSuse is a strong #2 when it used to be farther down the list. I think there are a lot of people like me, switching.
Like melol! I only tried Opensuse seriously for the first time when 10.3 came out. I had cut my Linux teeth using Debian based systems over the years, so it felt foreign. Yast package manager drove me insane, and I stayed with Ubuntu. Opensuse 11 has made me switch.
I totally agree:
With Windows pre-installed on PCs today, many users, especially those who use the computer to the basics, such as presentations and spreadsheets, have grown accustom to the Windows environment. Not necessarily that Windows is easier than Linux, but that many users have been using Windows for years, and have learned to use it to a full extent. Learning Linux (OpenSUSE in this case) is the same way as when Windows was first released and everyone had to learn how to use it. It’s a matter of just learning the ins-and-outs of how to use it. Due to fact that more and more servers use Linux (weather Ubuntu, Debian, OpenSUSE, SLES, etc.), Linux seems to have grown more popular on the desktop side as well.
The first computer I ever used was a Windows 95, which I really didn’t learn to much about since I was really young. Since then, I’ve used Windows all the way up to WinXP, and it was good for the most part, but I finally got fed up with the instability of Windows and the cost of everything, so I decided to try Linux. A friend referred me to OpenSUSE, so I thought I would give it a try. The first version I used was 10.3, and I really liked the idea of a fresh start with OpenSUSE. While it was REALLY fun to work with, I did run into a lot of problems to start out, even though I used a tutorial on installing and getting started, but after a while, I got the feel for it and now I only use Windows for games here or there. Once I get Wine to work with games on my system, I intend to keep Windows on my system as a backup in case something happens to GRUB or OpenSUSE.
I personally like the idea of new users to OpenSUSE. Everyone started out as a new user, and it is a fun experience to work with Linux and OpenSUSE for the firs time.
Just my 2 cents.
Sorry if I got a little carried away. 
lol! <:)
Thanks! 
One thing about Windows being “easier” is that to some degree it is.
For example, if you need to work on the options of an application nine times out of ten It’s under Tools>Options (and/or >Preferences)and it’s easy enough for even my wife to remember.
As opposed to Firefox that puts Preferences under Edit while KDE puts everything under Settings (and I cannot remember where other apps put their things off-hand right now).
Small I know, but little things like this add up to people who are really not computer savvy.
Yes, the ribbon takes a little getting used to (and isn’t bad once you do get used to it) and bucks this system but for everything else other than Office 2007 it is standard.
I’m not sure about OS X, if they too follow a predictable pattern. I am guessing they do but I don’t use one.