[wplug] RE: New users like Linux better?

[Bob Supansic]

Bill Moran wrote:

> Interesting take.  Looks like it's easier to hook them than convert them. 
> People don't like to change, even if it's to something better:
> http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/0,2000061733,39187298,00.htm

My experience is that there are two kinds of computer users: 
those who like to play with computers and those who don't. 
Most software and its documentation is written for the first 
group which puts the second group at a real disadvantage, 
even though I would guess that, in most organizations, they 
form about 50 percent of the workforce.

The "ease of use" issue is one which the Open Source 
movement should focus on and exploit because Microsoft is, 
by all that I can see, committed to its opposite for 
strictly economic reasons.  Difficult-to-use software 
produces revenue streams from "education" -- books, 
seminars, certifications, etc -- as well as a false sense of 
security and status for those "in the know".

And yet ease of use seems to have a very low priority in the 
design of software.  The example of Open Office is 
instructive: it continues to try to ape the Microsoft Office 
  interface, which in my opinion is astoundingly poor for 
such a widely-used program.

The theory is that this is the way to capture Microsoft 
Office users.  This theory is wrong, I think, because it 
misreads the "popularity" of Microsoft's software.  The 
great majority of people who say "I love Windows" or "I love 
Word" have never had experience with an alternative.  The 
commitment expressed in the word "love" has to do with, more 
than anything, a desire to not have to repeat the awful 
learning experience which got them to their current level of 
competence.  And I believe Microsoft is quite conscious of 
this marketing fact.

The lesson of Microsoft's success is: capture the new users 
and force them to endure a learning experience they will 
never want to repeat.  The lesson to the Open Source 
movement is: capture the new users and give them a standard 
of ease of use that will make Office seem like a bad joke.